Equilibrium
by kyra.storms
Summary: The Winter War was over and for once Ichigo and Orihime hoped that they could reach some sort of balance in their extra ordinary lives, and if they did it together, all the better...
1. Chapter 1

**Days Forgotten**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

Chapter 1

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Orihime sighed as she entered her home, kicking off her shoes at the door tiredly and dropping her bag near the table as she moved to the kitchen. If school and work weren't enough, she still had to face a hollow on the way home. She had 'politely' cleansed it, however the bruises she sported told of how she had been distracted, especially seeing as this wasn't such a huge hollow.

She made her way to the kitchen and put the kettle on, pulling out her mug and putting in the necessary condiments for a nice cup of soothing tea. Once her tea was made, she made her way to the table, settled herself and took out her books to complete the day's homework.

She liked math. She was good at numbers and problem solving. The intricacies of trigonometry, algebra and geometry, took her mind of things she preferred to avoid, such as reality…

Ever since coming back from Hueco Mundo, things didn't just go back to normal as how she'd hoped. On top of all the work she had to deal with, she still had to contend with the recurring nightmares she was having about the desolate sands of the place of her captivity. She tried her best not to think of it but it still troubled her.

She looked back at the books on her table and pushed the unwanted thoughts to the back of her head. Yep, math will definitely help with that.

Once she was done with her homework, she watched some TV, which brought some laughter into the quiet home and once her favourite shows were over, she decided to take a nice hot bath and then rest for the day.

She undressed and made sure to extract her hairpins off her jacket and place them in the box she was using to keep them in. She didn't wear them on her hair anymore but she still kept them close. Her hair now framed her face and Tatsuki had said she even looked more mature.

As she had a bath, she took notice of the bruises on her upper arms and her waist. She could heal them but she felt as if she would be cheating… She also didn't want to use her powers for every small scratch she occurred, she felt as if her powers weren't naturally given to her for the benefit of herself but actually for the benefit of others, for helping people in need, it didn't matter if it was friend or foe.

She was a big girl, she'd suck it up and deal with the pain. She'd done it before, never forgetting what those two arrancar women had put her through…which was one of the moments that played a part in her nightmares.

She got out of the bath and wiped herself dry, making her way to her room to change and dive straight under her covers. Hopefully tonight wasn't one of _those_ nights…

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Orihime entered the school gates to see her best friend and love interest arguing over something. She smiled, no matter what they spoke about they always had to act tough with each other. Well she could diffuse the situation easily.

"Tatsuki-chan! Kurosaki-kun! Ohayo!" Orihime shouted and waved at them as she made her way towards them.

"Hi Orihime" Tatsuki said as she smiled at her auburn-haired friend.

"Hey, Inoue" Ichigo replied nonchalantly.

"Why are you late?" Tatsuki asked, raising her brow. The tom boy had grown her hair out which actually made her look more feminine making her usual glare not as scary as before.

"Heh eh eh, well you see… I kinda woke up late coz my alarm didn't go off, coz personally I think it was the little blue men that changed the time on it, and then when I was changing, my shoe amazingly disappeared! That must have been the green men…" Orihime answered, placing her index finger on her chin in a thinking motion.

Tatsuki and Ichigo looked at one another then shrugged, knowing how Orihime could lose track of things.

"Gah, well never mind, we're gonna be late if we don't hurry." Ichigo said, pulling Orihime out of her musings.

"Hai!" Orihime smiled and fell in to step behind them. She was lucky, they couldn't tell that she avoided telling them the truth. Unfortunately, it had been one of _those _nights…

She sighed as she thought about her sleepless night. Once again her dreams had taken her to Hueco Mundo, turning into a nightmare in which she had to re-live one of the moments she wished to forget.

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It was the one of that creepy lanky looking man. Of all the arrancar that creped her out the most, it was him. It was the night she had felt the reiatsu of her friends entering Hueco Mundo.

She was lost in her thoughts about how she wished they hadn't come. How, she had left to protect them and now they were placing themselves in danger, for her. Her eyes were shut tight, as she stood facing the crescent moon that spilled some of its light into the sad looking room.

Her eyes shot open and she gasped as she felt a thin hand sneak across her shoulders, pulling her back. On instinct she put both her hands on the one around her shoulders and pulled, the offending hand did not relent.

"Now, now pet-sama. Enjoying the view eh? Me too." He drawled lecherously.

She turned her head upward to find him staring back at her, leering down her body with the eye that wasn't covered.

She whimpered. There was no way she could fight him. She could feel his reiatsu was high, higher than that hunk of a man that had destroyed Tsubaki. She squealed when she heard a loud clang, turning her head to see his large weapon lying on the floor beside them.

She tried holding her tears back as he spread his now free hand along her stomach. She closed her eyes, there was nothing she could do…

"P-Please… Please leave me alone…" She whispered, gulping, trying not to cry.

"But I'm only keeping you warm pet-sama… Ya know, it can get really chilly around here…" He said huskily, bending his head and kissing her neck.

That action made Orihime's eyes widen and the unshed tears sprang forth along her cheeks. She couldn't let this happen. She pulled on the hand at her shoulders and elbowed his face that was lifting from her neck.

He howled and let go of her. She turned to see that he was holding his hands over his good eye, his face now contorted in anger. "You bitch…"

She didn't want to wait to see what he did next so she turned and ran for the door only to feel her jaw snap and her body fly across the room to hit the wall on the other side with a resounding crack.

Her back was against the wall and she opened her eyes to see him walk towards her. Her face was in a huge amount of pain, her jaw was completely slack. Her body hurt all over and she was sure she had a few more other broken bones. It hurt, it hurt so much. She couldn't even utter a word because her jaw was most definitely broken.

"I was gonna be gentle with ya, but I don't think so anymore. I won't kill ya straight away pet. No, when I'm done with you, you'll beg for death." He chuckled sinisterly.

She watched as he picked his zanpakuto off the floor, walking towards her, grinning evilly.

He bent down to her and raised his fist and just before he could deliver the blow she woke up screaming, finding herself soaked in sweat and out of breath.

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Thinking about it now, while Ochii-sensei scribbled away on the board, made her cringe at the horror she went through. He had managed to smack her around a bit, throwing in a few crude comments while he was at it but as luck would have it, Ulquiorra had arrived and blasted him out of the room.

He had taken her to the pink-haired Espada to heal her to a state where she could use her own powers to finish the process. It had left her broken and was one of the reasons why she didn't have it in her to fight back against the two women who had entered her room.

She had tried to thank the pink-haired scientist for his help, which had proved a huge mistake on her part but she didn't want to think about that incident right now…Right now she planned on staying focused and keeping her grades up.

She couldn't afford to drop her standards, she desperately needed a scholarship or bursary to help with payments for college, because she was determined to further her education and make something out of herself.

She furrowed her brow in determination and started scribbling down notes that would help her later.

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Lunch arrived and she made her way to the rooftop with Tatsuki, lunchbox in hand. After the whole Aizen fiasco, all their friends knew about their 'secret' lives so they had all decided to share their lunch breaks together from now onwards. It made Orihime happy to be with all her friends and watch how they interacted.

She sat down and pulled out her sandwiches filled with peanut-butter and wasabi. She frowned, it was a bit on the normal side seeing as she ran out off red bean paste.

"Minna-san! Anyone for a sandwich?" Orihime shouted, extending her lunch box to the group with a bright smile on her face.

Everyone blanched and plastered a small smile on their faces, offering a quiet 'no thanks' to which Orihime shrugged and took a bite out of one.

"So guys… What are we doing this weekend?" Keigo said enthusiastically.

A chorused 'work' resounded through the group.

"No way! Everyone can't be working! Even you Ichigo?" Keigo rambled on.

"Yeah, and would you stop with the shouting! My ears can't take any more of it!" Ichigo shouted.

"Well Kurosaki, it's very clever of you to inform Asano-san to quit shouting when you are doing the exact same." Ishida chirped.

"Who the fuck asked you Ishida?" Ichigo replied, glaring at the Quincy.

"No one asked me, I was merely just stating an observation." Ishida replied indifferently.

"Well shut the fuck up, I didn't ask for your observations"

"Always the barbarian aren't we Kurosaki, you just have to add in profanities when there is no need to."

"Why you… If it's a fight you want then let's go Quincy!" Ichigo hollered.

"Anytime shinigami" Ishida bit back, pushing his glasses up with his middle finger.

Before both boys could make real on their threats, they were clutching their jaws from a fist they didn't see coming.

"What the fuck Tatsuki!" Ichigo screamed, glaring at the tomboy.

"Arisawa…" while Ishida just gaped at her.

"I am trying to enjoy my lunch, so the both of you better shut up!" Tatsuki hollered.

Both boys continued to rub their jaws, Ichigo mumbling something about 'demon woman'

"What was that Ichigo?" Tatsuki asked, raising her eyebrow at him before she could take a bite off her half eaten sandwich.

"Nothing…" he mumbled

"Ano… You didn't have to hit them so hard Tatsuki-chan…" Orihime whined.

"Gah, the baka's deserved it." Tatsuki replied, chomping on her sandwich.

"Don't worry about it Inoue, it doesn't even hurt." He smiled softly at the healer.

Orihime smiled and watched as he went back to eating his lunch, scowl firmly back in place. She couldn't believe that she had reached such a pinnacle in her life, where she didn't stutter or blush every time she spoke to him or every time he smiled at her.

Hueco Mundo had changed her, she wasn't that naïve anymore in believing everyone ate the things she did or everyone saw or were affected by the little blue men and most definitely, she did not believe that Ichigo would return her feelings the way she wanted him to.

She had a lot of time to process her thoughts after Hueco Mundo. If Ichigo felt the same about her, she would have seen it in his eyes. She could read him better than anyone else. He didn't look at her the way she looked at him. She had grown up a lot since captivity and it had led her to give up on childish dreams and look towards her reality.

She didn't want to be alone forever, and she didn't want to wait forever… She wasn't gonna go out and look for someone else but she would take her time to let go off the attachment she has with him and ease off her 'obsession' with him.

She also knew that he didn't have any feelings for Rukia, she had just been deluding herself. Maybe it was because she was so infatuated with him that she mistook his reactions towards Rukia as affection more than friends and that's why she had been jealous.

Ichigo was all about the here and now. It seemed to her that he just lived for the next moment and that he didn't really think about such things as emotions too much. He just did what he felt was right. Like coming to save a friend. That's how he saw her, as his nakama, that's how he saw all of them and she was grateful and blessed to have such an amazing nakama such as him.

Even though she was on her way to letting go off her feelings for him, she still loved him and he'd always have a special place in her heart for all the things he did for her and the people she cared about.

She told Tatsuki about this and her friend had insisted she confess to Ichigo but she was adamant on her decision until Tatsuki understood and supported her. She was most grateful for the woman sitting beside her. She was honored to call her sister.

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The rest of the school day had gone by fast, everyone saying their goodbyes at the gate and heading to their part time jobs. Ichigo had the day off so he decided to finish his home work and get in a bit of studying for the test next week. He needed to get down to studying during any free time he had. With hollow duty, work and school, he needed to keep his grades up.

Although he had been lucky recently. His shinigami badge would go off and he'd leave to the location, only while he was on his way the pass would stop blaring. He figured that it was the shinigami representative who was doing all the work for once and he was glad, it gave him more time to deal with his life.

He opened the door and kicked off his shoes.

"I'm Hom-"

Before he could finish the sentence, he was kicked hard in his abdomen, his back slamming into the door. He groaned slightly, opening his eyes to see the fist that was directed at his face. His instincts awakened, he grabbed onto the hand and pulled until he threw the offending body across the room.

"Ahh, Ichigo my son, you're getting rusty!" Isshin exclaimed from his place on the floor.

"What the fuck old man! I just got back from school! Can't you behave normally for once?" Ichigo hollered at his father who was now getting up.

Isshin laughed, "I have to keep you on your toes my boy! So how was school? Finally meet a nice girl to bring home to your daddy eh?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows at Ichigo.

The vein on Ichigo's head began to throb as he gritted his teeth. He was about to punch his father when he heard the voice of his sister.

"Otou-san! Onii-chan! Would you stop fighting! Dinner will be ready in a few minutes" Yuzu chirped.

"Let them be Yuzu, it's their way of bonding." Karin drawled from her place against the wall.

"But Karin-chan, they'll get hurt!" the brown-haired girl whined.

"Now, now relax my darling daughter. A wimp like your brother could never hurt me!" Isshin smiled broadly, pointing at himself with his thumb.

"W-Wimp?" Ichigo stuttered, trying to reign in his temper to which Isshin just laughed.

Ichigo was tired of all the commotion so he decided to let it be for now, he had other pressing issues to take care off. "Gah, next time old man, you better be watching your back…" Ichigo smirked as he made his way to his room. "Yuzu, call me when dinner's ready."

"Isshin just smiled knowing that Ichigo was sure to follow through with his threat.

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Once Ichigo got to his room, he set out his books and continued to study. Lucky for him, Kon was locked up in Yuzu's room, so there weren't any disturbances from him. With everything else that was going on the last couple of months, he was glad that he was able to keep his grades up.

He was determined not to fall back, he, just like everybody else, desired to go to college so he had to work hard. It wasn't as if they paid him to slay hollows, if that was the case he would have just left school all together. He chuckled at the thought.

He finished in time just to hear his sister call him for dinner. He took his place at the table and went through the normal routine of having a meal with his family. His father questioning him like crazy, occasionally running up to his mom's poster and turning on the water works. Yuzu making small talk and being her polite and motherly self while Karin threw in a few of her own comments or just sat indifferently to everything that went on.

He eventually went up to his room after watching some TV and got ready for bed, dozing off a few minutes since lying down, his last thought being that surprisingly there wasn't a hollow alert the entire day.

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Ichigo bolted out of bed, sitting upright and breathing heavily as he felt the sweat drip down his face and body. He placed his right hand on his chest, gripping his soaked t-shirt tightly. He pulled it over his head and threw it on the floor. He looked down at his chest and searched the muscles there with his hand.

Nothing… No hole... His eyes were wide as he recalled the dream, or nightmare in this case. He literally felt the pain as he remembered Ulquiorra shove his hand right through his sternum, leaving a hole…and then the dream had switched to when the bastard had blasted a cero right through him on the dome…

It was so real… He could feel the pain in his dreams as if he were reliving every moment. He'd been having this dream as well as others recently. All centering on his fights with the Espada's he had encountered. However, this time the dream went on for a while, showing him glimpses of a fight he didn't remember, a fight that had been brutal and inhumane…

He caught glimpses of pale white flesh, the formation of a bright red cero between two horns, Ulquiorra's hand being sliced off, by _his_ sword… All this was seen from his view, not as if he was a bystander, but from his own eyes… Was that really him…? Did he really do that…?

He heard cackling within his head and stiffened.

"**Hahahaha! Did you really think you were capable of all that power? That pure instinct? No King, that was all me. Don't give yourself too much credit, you don't deserve it yet.**"

"_Why the fuck are you showing me this_?" Ichigo replied to his hollow.

"**Tch, I ain't showing you shit. It's probably your subconscious that's dredging up the memories. Well at least you'll see how you should take care of things in future**" The hollow chuckled.

"_That's not how I do things!_" Ichigo hollered back

"**Really? So you prefer to fight like a pansy ass which cost you to die almost twice thus preventing you from doing your duty and protecting the princess. Tch…**" The hollow snickered.

"_Princess?_" Ichigo replied confused.

"**You really are thick. How the hell I got stuck with you I'll never know… Figure it out Kingy.**"

Ichigo scrunched up his brows at his hollow's parting words, allowing him to retreat to the recess of his mind. What was he talking about? Princess? Ichigo's eyes widened, was he talking about Inoue…?

He did promise to protect her… and the hollow was right… It was her he was trying to save and protect when he received the holes in his chest. Why the fuck would his hollow be mentioning her!

"_Why the fuck are you even mentioning Inoue?_" Ichigo asked to which he got no reply.

"_Oi! Answer me!_" He tried again, still no reply. Tch, bastard.

That was one thing he didn't feel like thinking about. Inoue… It still haunted him how she had looked at him when she saw him in his mask. His nightmares were filled with her fearful grey eyes and the tears she shed for him.

She featured many times in his nightmares, those moments when he had thought he couldn't protect her. When she was being bullied by those arrancar girls, or when Yammy approached her, not to mention when that creepy 5th Espada was holding her while he got pummeled by his subordinate.

That moment had been one of the worst… All he could see was that freak with his hand over her mouth, holding her against him while he was being beaten to death. His body was being torn apart, bones being crushed and the pain he experienced had been unbearable. He wanted to pass out from the brutality of it all but he couldn't give up. He watched her fearful face and it hurt to think that the same fate would befall her as it did him.

So he tried to fight back with the last bit of strength he could conjure up but it was to no avail. He really didn't want to think about what would have happened if Kenpachi hadn't arrived… If he had died, then she would have been left alone with those bastards…

Well it wasn't as if she hadn't been alone with the arrancar before they could rescue her. Grimmjow's words still played on his mind, when he had said that maybe she had been hurt on the 'inside'. Had they done anything to her? She never mentioned anything. Maybe he should ask her about it, but then again he didn't want to invoke those thoughts again…

She was a gentle and soft hearted girl that had the miss fortune of enduring Aizen and his army. He wished he could have protected her from it all. He even tried to protect her from seeing him with his hollow mask on but Grimmjow's power was just too much to handle. It had hurt him the most when she looked at him with the fear she would have directed to one of the arrancar.

He wouldn't admit it but he was more than glad when she had screamed out to him as she stood on the tower. She had hardened his resolve and put him at ease which allowed him to defeat Grimmjow.

He hardly ever thought about his fights, or the time he spent in Hueco Mundo. He felt it was best to push it all to the back of his mind but his mind had other ideas when it brought it to the fore-front on occasional nights, which were becoming frequent recently.

He wouldn't tell anyone this but it scared him. The whole ordeal had scared him… Fighting opponents that you didn't know what they were capable off. Hollows with powers that surpassed his own, that weren't afraid to kill, that had no mercy. He was afraid for his family, his friends and his town.

He was afraid that he wouldn't have been able to defeat them and he came close to not doing so, many times. It looked like he was always being saved instead of doing the saving… He was nearly defeated by Ulquiorra that first time when he tried protecting Nel. It was Inoue who had brought him back.

He was almost defeated by Grimmjow when Inoue strengthened his resolve, then there was the 5th Espada and Kenpachi saved his ass, and he was once again defeated by Ulquiorra but he came back somehow, thanks to his hollow…

"**Tch. It wasn't all me… And I'm not talking about you.**"

"_Oh so now you decide to speak up? What the hell are you on about?_" Ichigo asked irritably.

"**You'll see in due time…**" And once again his hollow's voice faded out.

Ichigo was really irritated with his interruptions that made no sense at all. What did he mean when he said it wasn't all him that brought him back? Did he mean Ishida? He knew Ishida helped in the fight with Ulquiorra... and he remembered seeing his sword impaled through him… He shuddered at the thought. He still couldn't believe that happened.

On the one hand he didn't want to know about the fight, maybe he was better off not knowing, but on the other hand he wanted to know, especially after receiving the glimpses through the dream. He wanted to know what he was capable of when he lost control, when he became the horse…

He was still a teenager but it seemed he was thrust into manhood too quickly. At the end of the day, even if it may not have been him per say, it was still his body that had destroyed Ulquiorra… That was not how he had wanted to win and the vision of Ulquiorra's barely there and torn body still plagued him… He just couldn't imagine doing such a thing.

He could ask Ishida about it, but he knew he would act indifferently and he really didn't want to hear it from Ishida how his sword ended up through him. He could ask Inoue…

He had thought about talking to her about it but he could never bring himself to do so. What if she wanted to just forget it all? He didn't want to bring it all up.

He saw her in school, she looked fine. Still the same smiling and exuberant as always but he noticed that it was toned down compared to how it used to be.

He also noticed that she didn't greet him loudly and ecstatically as she used to, also she didn't stutter or get all flushed and act weird when she talked to him. Strangely she seemed more mature… Well they all probably matured in some way or the other after everything that happened…but it still nagged at his brain…

He just didn't know how he would approach her. Maybe he'd think about it some other time or just let it go all together. It had been 7 months since the Winter War and he didn't want to be the one to bring things up, especially if everyone seemed to be doing okay.

Although, they all might be trying to put on a brave face, just like him… The memories of the Winter War still haunted him. It's not something a teenager should be exposed to but unfortunately, that's how life is… So he shoved all his memories back and tried to move on as best as he could.

He sighed and tried to go back to sleep, it would do him no good to think about things best forgotten… For now…

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**A/N:** This is my first IchiHime multi-chapter, it's not gonna be that long though. I already have it planned till the end so it's definitely going to be finished.

Let me give everybody a heads up. This follows the canon story line up until just before Aizen's defeat with a few adjustments here and there. However, for the purpose of the story, Ichigo did train in the dangai but it wasn't for the Final Getsuga Tensho (Although I loved his transformation!). It was just to help him extend and strengthen his hollow powers.

Also, Ichigo did fight Aizen and was strong enough to extract the Hougyoku from him which in turn allowed the Vizards and Urahara to finish Aizen off and now he's locked up in the deepest darkest dungeons of Soul Society. I really felt that they should have had a bigger part in defeating him, he really wronged them and he was so arrogant about it.

Just so everybody is aware, this story isn't big on plot. I'm, just leaving this as background information so no one is confused. I mostly want to focus on character and relationship development, especially with Ichigo's Hollow.

Thanks for reading and this one is especially dedicated to all those who stuck with me on my first fanfic :)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Bleach

Chapter Two

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Orihime tried to hide the limp she had received after a painful swipe to the leg courtesy of a persistent hollow. She was on her way back home from work last night when she had heard the loud noise. She investigated and surely enough she found what she expected. She could have taken care of it but she had been distracted once again by rampant thoughts.

When the hollow had swiped at her ankle, she had fallen against one of the benches. It tried attacking her again but she raised her shield. Thankfully she was able to make it out of the way in time to see the tail smash through the shield and break the bench. However, before she could send Tsubaki out to cleanse its soul, a katana slipped through its mask, allowing it to wither away.

The resident shinigami had just cleansed one on the other side of Town and had rushed over. He had scolded her for trying to take care of it herself but he knew her well by now. Nagasaki Hiroki was a sweet man, always watching out for her.

She had met him after one of her 'hollow hunting' nights, when he was performing a konso on one of the stray spirits. Eventually, she would always see him after dealing with a hollow. He had also met Ichigo, Ishida and Chad seeing as they also helped with dealing with hollows, but she had made him promise that he wouldn't tell her friends she was fighting against the corrupted souls. She knew how protective of her they would get and she didn't need that.

She needed to stand on her own and help her friends, not always being saved or protected all the time. She promised herself after she left Hueco Mundo, that she would never be a burden to them. That she could stand with them instead of on the sidelines and she was determined to keep that promise.

Hiroki-san promised he wouldn't say anything and she thanked him for that.

She was a little late and made her way to her desk as quickly as possible before the bell rang, trying her hardest to hide the limp. She said a quick hello to all her friends as she sat at her desk and then noticed Ichigo looking at her strangely, frown in place.

She pushed down the flush that was rising to her cheeks and gave him a questioning look to which he shook his head and turned towards the front as their teacher entered the classroom. Although she had told herself that she was getting over Ichigo, it was harder said than done, especially when he looked at her with those warm but fiery amber eyes of his.

Also, lately she had noticed him talking to her more, asking her input on things and generally paying her a little more attention than he used to. She found it a nice change to their usual relationship and what made it better was that she was able to have a flowing conversation with him without becoming a bumbling idiot.

She smiled at the thought of becoming good friends with Ichigo, where they weren't talking about the next threat, hollows, arrancar or Soul Society all the time.

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As Ichigo walked up to the roof, he noticed Orihime leaning on her left leg more than the right. To anyone else she would seem to be walking normally but if you looked carefully, you could clearly see she was hurt and trying her hardest to hide it. This confirmed what he saw in the morning as she walked to her desk.

He had noticed it then and made a note to observe it at lunch. It also made him dwell on the fact that last night, when he had made his way to the location of the supposed hollow, it was gone. He also noted that his hollow had been annoying him before they could reach their destination, hollering at him to move his ass into gear.

He found that strange as he didn't sense the hollow to be too dangerous, so he definitely wasn't going to pull out his mask and it definitely wasn't going to be a good fight for his own hollow to be behaving this way. His hollow had actually done this on more than one occasion before but when he would question the white counterpart, he'd recede into the depths of his mind, snickering as he left.

He wanted to leave the area immediately after finding the hollow exterminated but decided to just check around because he then realised that this was quiet close to Inoue's work place and in the direction of her home. He had walked over to a bench that had been broken and that's when he felt her reiatsu. When he let out his senses further he could feel that she had been there recently.

He wondered if Inoue had been the one to take care of the hollow. If that was the case then he needed to see her right away but his badge had gone off, alarming him that there were two hollows on the other side of town so he made a decision to talk to her about it at school.

He looked at her again as she made her way to their lunch spot and hurried to her before she got there as well as before the others saw them.

"Inoue"

She turned to look at him, her hair flowing around her.

"Kurosaki-kun?" she enquired with a questioning look.

"I need to talk to you for a second." He said, motioning to the side with his head.

They walked off to the side, away from the view of their friends.

"Inoue, why are you limping?" Ichigo wasn't beating around the bush and went straight to the point.

"Eh? I-I'm not limping Kurosaki-kun. Sometimes I just walk funny. Heh eh eh." Orihime tried to hide the truth, smiling and playing with the ends of her hair.

Ichigo frowned. "Inoue, I know you're lying. I can see you leaning to one side and why is it that I sensed your reiatsu where there was a supposed hollow attack, minus the hollow, last night?" He enquired, glaring at her and making sure she didn't try hiding the truth.

"W-well you see… I was walking home and I felt a hollow around the corner… So I thought I'd cleanse it before it did any damage and I'd be helping Hiroki-san out…" She said quietly, looking at the ground and twisting her fingers in the hem of her skirt. She could never lie to him, not when he looked at her like _that_.

"Hiroki-san?" Ichigo asked, confused.

"The shinigami representative Kurosaki-kun. I thought you knew him." Orihime looked up at him once again.

"Oh him. So that's his name… Gah, well you know how I am with names." Ichigo grinned as if it were fine to forget people's names.

"Ano, it's not nice to forget people's names Kurosaki-kun… What if you forget mine? Or Ishida-kuns? Or Sado-kuns?" Orihime gasped, eyes widening.

"Inoue! Don't be silly! I'm not gonna forget your names! I was- Matte! Oi Inoue! We were talking about you fighting hollows! Not my name forgetting!" Ichigo hollered, frowning heavily.

"He eh eh, I thought you'd forget…" Orihime tried laughing.

"I didn't. Let me see." Ichigo said seriously

"Nani?"

"Your leg Inoue, I want to see how badly you're hurt."

"Oh no Kurosaki-kun! It's fine! It's just a little scratch, that's all!" Orihime rambled, waving her hands.

"Inoue" Ichigo said sternly.

Orihime looked up at him and realised she couldn't run away from this. She bent down and pushed her sock down towards her shoe, revealing the ugly purple and blue bruise. She kept her head down as she heard Ichigo hiss. She watched as he kneeled and looked at her ankle.

"What the fuck happened Inoue? That looks extremely painful and why the hell haven't you healed it!" Ichigo almost shouted.

"I was just a little distracted Kurosaki-kun and I didn't notice its tail lash out at me. It wasn't a big deal and its fine now though." She said quietly.

She winced slightly and shuddered when she felt his fingers trail lightly over the bruise.

"That still doesn't explain why you haven't healed it" he said a bit more quietly, frowning as he moved his fingers over the swollen skin, eyes following his fingers.

"W-well… I just thought it was a small thing and I don't want to use my powers for every scratch I get. I'm human as well Kurosaki-kun so I'll let it heal like everybody else's wounds and also…it makes me feel more of a fighter this way." She replied smiling slightly.

"Inoue…" Ichigo looked wide-eyed into her grey depths, dumfounded by her reply. He never really thought her emotions ran that deep. She truly was unique… He looked at her with new understanding and respect. He smiled at her slightly and held her hand to lift her up to her feet. He noticed her hands were tiny in his and truly soft and smooth, just how a healers hands should be.

"Inoue, I know you want to fight but just be careful okay? If you can stay out of killing a hollow I suggest you do so and wait for me or Hishiro to pitch up." Ichigo said softly.

Orihime giggled and he frowned. "It's Hiroki-san"

Ichigo raised his eyebrows and then realised he had gotten his name wrong.

The look on Ichigo's face was priceless and Orihime burst out laughing, clutching her stomach.

"Oi Inoue! It's not that funny! I'd like to see the day you forget somebody's name!" Ichigo tried to sound angry but couldn't help it.

"Not…..gonna…happen…Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime managed to get out in-between her bouts of laughter. She was literally tearing.

The sweet sound of Orihime's laughter was ringing in his ears and he couldn't help but become infected. He burst out laughing with her.

The two teens continued to laugh and Orihime realised that this was one of the first times she had heard Ichigo laugh whole heartedly without inhibition. It was an amazing sight and sound.

When their laughter died down, they looked at each other with genuine smiles on their faces, a new understanding between them.

"Come on, let's go eat lunch. They're definitely gonna ask questions about why we're pitching up together. Leave the guys to me. A few punches should do it." Ichigo grinned.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime whined

"I'm kidding Inoue!" He laughed at her expression.

She giggled and continued to walk beside him. He noticed the difference in her steps and frowned again.

"I'm serious though Inoue. You wait for us before jumping into battle okay?"

"Hai, I promise." She smiled, a little deflated but glad he wasn't overly mad at her.

He didn't like the look of that bruise against her pale skin, it just didn't belong. It reminded him too much of the time that fucker Yammy had hurt her. He had felt so deflated and useless because he wasn't able to protect her, and his other friends, better.

He wanted to demand that she heal the wound but he didn't want to make her feel less of a warrior. If this was what she wanted and if it made her happy and feel stronger, he would accept it but he most definitely wouldn't encourage it.

He realised that the next time his badge went off, he was gonna high-tail it out of wherever he was. He didn't wanna take any chances and knowing Inoue, even if she promised, she'd still put herself in danger.

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After lunch was math, Ichigo hated it. It just involved too much of thinking, something he really wasn't fond off… They were given an assignment to complete in the next month which dealt with the three spheres of math and Ichigo couldn't help but cringe.

How the hell was he gonna complete it! It would require him even more time to think over these problems. He sank back into his chair, sharing groans with the rest of the class but suddenly perked up when he heard the teacher saying that the assignment would be done in twos and he had already paired them off.

He listened as the teacher called out the names. He was secretly hoping he'd get Ishida. The guy was a genius so they'd get it done in no time. Suddenly hopeful, Ichigo had to groan in annoyance when he heard Ishida being paired with Honsho. The red haired girl whined herself, saying something about being separated from her Hime.

Ichigo waited to hear his name and was actually happy when he heard Inoue would be paired with him. She was one of the top students in the class, she most definitely would know her stuff not to mention he would rather spend time with her than the quirky Quincy. He looked back at her and grinned and was rewarded with one of her bright smiles that seemingly lit up the whole room.

On the other hand, Orihime was stressing. She had noticed that things weren't going as well as she planned. Her mission was to pull back from the intense feelings she had for Ichigo but with recent events it seemed everything was against her!

She hadn't expected him to notice her limp. He was actually the last one she thought would notice. Not to mention that he knew about her hollow cleansing! However when she thought about it, it felt nice. The conversation they had on the roof was so different from all the others. It was as if something changed between them and she was extremely happy about it.

Now they were being paired up for a month long assignment which meant that they'd have to spend a lot of time together. Of dear! She hoped and prayed that no matter what, she didn't return to the rambling mess she used to be around him.

No, Inoue Orihime was a strong woman who had survived the depths, of what she thought, Hell. She would not revert to her old ways. She had to be strong willed and determined. She nodded to herself and set her head straight. She was not backing down from this. She would get through this month and come out unscathed. Hopefully…

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Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **shintochick, KrispyDonuts, luvtousall, SeungLee, MeggzieofHyrule, UNTensaZangetsu, Crystal Dawn, , FreakingOutGirl, darkest passion of love and rushninja.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it: **nypsy,** **MeggzieofHyrule and bluewitch143.**

I'm really sorry for the late update, my PC is on the fritz and I actually uploaded this chapter off my phone! Will try for a fast update, hopefully soon.

Thanks again for reading :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I Don't Own Bleach

Chapter 3

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They met up after school and decided to meet at Orihime's house after they had gotten off work. Ichigo insisted he'd pick her up at her work place and they could walk over together. It had been a quiet walk, they made small talk and groaned in annoyance together at the length of the new assignment.

Once they were at her house, Ichigo made himself comfortable at the table and Orihime went to prepare some snacks.

"Oi Inoue, you don't have to get anything you know." Ichigo imagined the snacks she'd bring out and blanched.

"Oh no Kurosaki-kun! I'd be a bad host if I didn't!" She yelled from the kitchen.

"You won't Inoue. I'm not that hungry anyway." He tried again but lost because she had already entered the room with two trays in her hand and placed them on the far end of the table. He looked at them wearily and then turned to her as he heard her speak.

"It's fine Kurosaki-kun. I know not everyone likes the things I eat but I offer my lunch so as not to be rude. I made you some normal snacks, don't worry I didn't taint them." The auburn-haired beauty said, smiling.

"Inoue…" Ichigo whispered, rubbing the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. He chuckled at her idea of 'tainting' them and reached for a biscuit, which, when he chewed on it, was very normal and extremely tasty.

"Wow, these are great! Where'd you buy them from?" Ichigo said, munching away, looking at the biscuit in his hand.

"Oh, they're from the bakery I work at. Kamiya-san, the baker, is really good. You should taste some of the cakes she makes! And her chocolate brownies are to die for! Without any extra toppings!" Orihime said excitedly, wiping away any crumbs on her mouth.

Ichigo laughed at her last sentiment. Her enthusiasm could really rub off on him. He liked listening to her. For some strange reason she managed to always make him laugh and he found her expressions kinda pure, honest and funny… Shaking his head at the thought he finished his biscuit and attacked another one.

"Well I think I'll try some of those brownies seeing as you say they're 'to die for'. I'm a sucker for chocolate anyway."

"Oh I didn't know. Well they have other chocolate things as well! You have to come in on a Friday, that's the day Kamiya-san makes the finest chocolate concoctions. You have to try them! She's been teaching me to bake on our breaks. I've actually learnt a lot from her. Not to mention how fun it's been!"

Ichigo looked at the glee on her face and couldn't help but smile. He was happy that she seemed okay. The smiles and laughter beat away at the visions of her face in Hueco Mundo, the one that would return to his nightmares when he laid down to rest.

They smiled at each other and decided it was time to get down to work. He found out that Orihime was really good at math. It was as if she were in her zone. She caught onto things quiet fast and she explained things really well, way better than their teacher. He understood things a lot clearer now.

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They had called it a night once they realised how late it was getting and Ichigo went home, making sure she locked her doors and secured her apartment. He didn't know where the thought had come from but, when he was leaving, he realised that the girl would be all alone. Not that she wasn't from the time he met her but he only just realised how dangerous it was for her to be by herself.

He knew she would be able to hold her own, although, he wondered if she would use her powers to subdue a normal human. As an older brother, he would never want to leave his sisters alone in the house. Thankfully his dad was there all the time.

The study date had gone well and he had never realised how good it felt to talk to Inoue before. She was different from his other female friends, namely Tatsuki and Rukia. They were very tomboyish and as brash as him sometimes.

Inoue was very, girly... for a lack of a better word. She was honest and open, not shying away from things she had on her mind. She was soft spoken and just sweet in general. He didn't feel the need to scream at her or act all though in front of her.

He also noted his lips had the tendency of lifting upwards in her presence. It was probably the aura that surrounded her. Her reiatsu just gave off a positive energy. It was warm, inviting and welcoming. It was hard to get angry at her. She was the type of person that could diffuse any situation.

He had been so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realise he had arrived home. He opened the door and avoided the impending kick from his father. He gave him an indifferent look and then greeted his sisters, making his way to his room.

As soon as he stepped in the room, his face was hit by softness.

"ICCCHHHIIIGOOO! Why are you soooo mean! You left me with your sister for so long!"

Ichigo grabbed the plushy and threw him on the bed. "What the hell Kon! Do you have to be so damn loud!"

"Hmph, you're enjoying life while I have to play dress up. Where the hell have you been anyway eh? It's quiet late." The lion plushy sulked.

"Gah, I was studying with Inoue." Ichigo replied nonchalantly, placing his bag in the corner.

"NANI? And you didn't take me! You are so mean! You want to smother your face in the valley of the Gods by yourself! You selfish bastard!" Kon screamed angrily.

"Valley of the Gods... Why you perverted baka!" Ichigo hollered and grabbed Kon, throwing him to the floor and stomping on him.

"We were doing school work you creep! And stop thinking about Inoue like that!" Ichigo ranted, continuing to stomp the stuffing out of Kon.

Ichigo then picked him up and walked to the door.

"Oi! Ichigo! What are you doing? Matte Ichi-"

Ichigo pulled the door open, "Yuzu! I found something of yours!"

Yuzu came bounding up the stairs only to look happily at what Ichigo held in his hands. "Bostov! Where'd you find him onii-san? And why is his stuffing coming out?" Yuzu said excitedly, looking at the plushy in her hands.

"Just found him lying in my room, mistakenly tramped him. Oi Yuzu, look after your toys."

"Hai! Arigatou onii-san! Oh and dinners ready"

Ichigo shut the door and followed his sister downstairs.

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After dinner and a shower he decided to go straight to bed, glad his substitute badge hadn't gone off. He had done enough school work for the day so he thought it was best to rest.

He didn't expect to enter one of his recurring nightmares, which was now altered to show him things that he had lost to unconsciousness.

He was lying on the ground, flat on his stomach. He knew he had a hole in his chest and the pain it seemed, had been blasted away with the flesh that had previously occupied that area of his body. He felt numb, as if he was falling through space. He could feel his life force getting fainter, withering away into darkness.

Something stopped him though… A glimpse of his nakama in despondency. Tears… Her despaired voice, mixed with sorrow and pain… His name… He could hear it… Coming from her mouth… She was calling for _him_…

Get up… He needed to get up… He needed to protect her… He promised… He promised _her_… Get up!

He felt it. That power that resided within him, that power which he hated to use but had to in order to follow through with his will to protect. It was rushing towards him with unusual force, consuming him. It was frenzied and impatient… and…it was taking over him…

He had to let go… There was nothing he could do… It was the only way he could protect her… And he felt it in the force of the power that was consuming him, it had the same intentions…

This time though, he wasn't plagued in darkness, this time he watched as his counterpart slaughtered the 4th Espada with no inhibitions. He watched as his body carried out those death defying moves, slashing away at his enemy. He completely destroyed him…

And then he placed his katana at the neck of the body which had been almost obliterated, preparing to completely end it. That's when he saw Ishida grab his hand, pleading with him not to lose his sanity, not to be completely consumed by his other half.

He watched in slow motion as his hand moved, implanting Tensa Zangetsu into Ishida's stomach. Then he heard _her_ again. Screaming for her nakama and all he could hear from 'himself' was…

I… will… save…you…

He looked at her, her eyes wide, so very wide…filled with fear, shock, hurt… Those eyes, again she was looking at him with _those_ eyes… those fearful grey orbs… but there was something else there… Regret…

Before he could put anymore thought into it, he watched as 'he' walked towards Ishida, charging a cero towards him.

Was he really going to kill him! Why!

That's when he felt it again, the overwhelming feeling of the need to protect… To protect _her_…

Then the scene changed when his horn was broken, his own cero blasting himself…

He woke up gasping for air as if it was completely drained from his body. He gripped his hair tightly in his fists. That was it… That was what truly happened…

He widened his eyes in realisation, letting his hands slide down his face to lie limply on the bed. It was her… Inoue had called out to him… She brought him back… It was her calls that gave strength to the raw power that resided within him…

So that's what he had been talking about when he said 'it wasn't all him'…

"_**No shit King! You actually figured something out on your own!**_"

Ichigo frowned, "_You bastard… I don't get it. Why at that moment? That Espada punched a hole in me before and he left me too die. I still hadn't saved her so why didn't you take over then?_"

"_**I don't really know and I don't really care, all I know is that the princess was calling out to me and I had to answer seeing as your weak ass couldn't do anything.**_" The hollow snickered.

"_Shut up! She called out to me! Not you! And why the hell did you try to kill Ishida! He's one of my nakama!_" Ichigo hollered.

"_**Oi! Whether ya like it or not, and I know I don't, we're one and the same, so deal with it! As for the glasses fucker, I saw him as a threat so he had to be taken care of.**__"_' the hollow replied.

Ichigo was beyond irritated, he needed to have this conversation one on one and maybe release some frustration on the cocky bastard. He closed his eyes and concentrated until he was in his inner world.

He was now looking at sideways buildings and his hollow lying leisurely on one of them, one leg stretched in front of him and the other bent with his hand dangling over his knee, grinning at him.

"**Welcome King… It's been a while since ya been here ne?**"

"What the fuck are you talking about Ishida being a threat!" Ichigo screamed, not entertaining his laid back attitude.

"**Not beating around the bush eh? Tch, I already told ya, he was a threat so I had to get rid of him. Too bad that ugly bat-looking fucker attacked me.**" The hollow drawled.

"A t-threat…" Ichigo asked dumfounded.

"**Yeah Kingy, a 't-threat'**" the white counterpart chuckled mockingly.

"You bastard! A fucking threat to who! He couldn't even beat Ulquiorra and you mopped the floor with _that_ bastard. How the hell could Ishida have been a threat to you!" Ichigo screamed, anger rising rapidly.

"**I never said he was a threat to **_**me**_** dumbass**" the hollow yawned, looking utterly bored with the conversation.

"W-what the fuck are you talking about…?" Ichigo asked slowly and suddenly coming to a realisation. "Inoue… That's why you kept saying you'd save her after you stabbed Ishida…"

"**Hahahaha! He finally gets it!**" The hollow laughed outright, golden irises gleaming.

"That still doesn't make sense you fucker! Ishida wasn't a threat to Inoue! He tried to protect her! Why the hell you think he went to Hueco Mundo!" Ichigo was once again screaming.

"**In my mind, he was, everyone but her, was a threat." **The hollow, looked seriously at Ichigo.

Ichigo noticed the serious look in his eyes and knew he wasn't joking around or being sarcastic anymore. "Why were you only trying to protect her? Why not Ishida too? She called out to save 'us'"

"**Tch, it was because **_**she**_** called out to us, it was her voice that registered, no one else's, it was only for her.**" He said, turning away.

Ichigo was shocked at the behavior off the hollow. He was suddenly quiet and complacent which was so very unlike him.

"I still don't understand why you felt the need, the desire to protect her. You're a hollow, you have no heart, no feelings. You're always whining and nagging about the day you take over and destroying everything. You did take over, and there was not a damn thing I could do. You could have just killed them, all of them, including her." Even thinking about it made Ichigo cringe.

"**I may be a hollow Ichigo, but I still live within you. I'm still a part of you. I feel what you feel and I see what you see. I could have killed them, all of them, but not her, not her. You may not understand it now but you'll realise exactly why **_**she**_** brought **_**us**_** back. Considering that thick skull of yours, it might take a while.**" The hollow grinned that cynical smile of his, showing his 'normal' personality once again.

"Bastard… What the fuck's that supposed to mean? Why the fuck cant you ever speak normally instead of riddles!" Ichigo gritted his teeth, grabbing onto the handle of Zangetsu.

"**Ah so Kingy wants to play, fine with me. I was getting bored of this conversation anyway.**" Ichigo's hollow smirked ecstatically, pulling his own Zangetsu off his back and charging at Ichigo with fervor.

Their battle continued until they both were spent and Ichigo decided to leave his inner world, not without a few cuss words. He needed to get in some rest after this whole ordeal and he'd deal with the rest of his thoughts later…

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Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **halfdemonfan, VirgilTheart, Neko-chan290, sjlc, iloveyoualot, LiluFaery87, KingOfTheIceLord, 48 Carat Darkness, argentorum, phoenixlord09, Tha Golden Boy and Boobie-Chan.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it: **shintochick, halfdemonfan, himelove22, adam, Child of the Ashes, VirgilTheart, nypsy and Boobie-Chan.**

Thanks again for reading :) Tc


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

**Chapter 4**

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It was Friday and Orihime was running a bit late. After school, Ichigo had told her he would be a bit late at his job so she was to make her way home and he'd be by to attempt their assignment together. She agreed and ran off to her apartment, changing quickly and rushing off to work.

They had been completing their assignment together for about more than a week now and they had most definitely become closer. Both were able to talk openly to each other and Orihime was glad that she hadn't reverted to her old self. She still blushed from time to time but she noticed that it was so much easier to talk to him without her feelings getting in the way when she had a handle over them.

They spoke about a lot of things in between completing their assignment, about his family and his over eccentric dad. She told him about what she remembered about her parents and why Sora had ran away with her.

Ichigo had been shocked and angry at her parents for ever treating their kids that way but she made him understand that she didn't have any ill feelings towards them and that everything happens for a reason.

He had smiled so sweetly at her, if you could call it that because putting the word sweet and Ichigo together would be killing his reputation, well in his words anyway.

He had actually told her about his mother and what had exactly happened that fateful day she died. It was a sore point for him to talk about but he had actually confessed to her that it was nice to talk to someone about it.

After that conversation, things just seemed different between them, as if they understood each other better and it made them realise that they weren't that different from each other in the way they felt over the loss of their loved ones.

He blamed himself for his mother's death and she felt guilt and hatred towards herself over the petty argument she had with her brother concerning her trusted hairpins before his death.

She also noticed that he was more open around her, he would even go as far as scolding her at school if she ran too fast without watching were she was going or even if she would eat her ice-cream fast thus giving her brain freeze.

Thinking about this made her worry with fright. If he was at her house before him, he was most definitely going to be pissed off for making him wait…

While at work, she had been so engrossed in learning the new chocolate recipes that Kamiya-san had created, that she had forgotten the time and hastily packed some of the day's specials and ran off home. She hoped Ichigo wasn't there before her but as luck would have it, that wasn't the case.

She had just turned onto her street when she saw Ichigo walking hastily down the street, hands in his pockets and his scowl more menacing than usual. She watched as he recognized her, a small surprised look on his face which was instantly gone and replaced with the previous look. His reiatsu was pulsing with anger and it almost made her flinch and want to run back to the bakery!

Orihime walked slowly towards him, head bowed in shame. He must be really angry at her for making him wait! How could she have lost track of time! Well she had been so immersed in what Kamiya-san was teaching her, and she had paid special attention because she now knew chocolate was one of Ichigo's favourites…

She felt so bad for making him stand outside her home for her and as he made his way towards her, all she could do was look towards the ground and avoid those burning amber orbs.

"Inoue! Where the hell have you been! Do you know how long I've been waiting!" Ichigo hollered, looking down at her bowed head.

No, Orihime told herself, she wouldn't cry. She wasn't a baby anymore. "Gomen Kurosaki-kun… I lost track of time and I didn't realise how late it had gotten. I'm really sorry for making you wait for so long…" Orihime said softly.

"Sorry! Inoue, when I said I'd be late, I meant to find you at home when I got here and you weren't! And what do you have a phone for if you're not gonna answer? I must have called you about five times! And you know I'm not good at sensing reiatsu so I couldn't place you exactly. What if something happened to you!"

Orihime snapped her head up, looking at his blazing eyes with her own widened ones. "Kurosaki-kun…" she uttered.

He looked at her expression and realised that he had just been screaming at her on the side of the road. Way to go Kurosaki, just brilliant. He sighed and dragged a hand over his face. "I'm sorry Inoue, I didn't mean to scream at you, I was just worried, that's all." He looked at her, softening his eyes.

Thank goodness… He wasn't angry at her for making him wait, but he was actually worried about her. She smiled. "Kurosaki-kun is such a nice person. Here I was forgetting the time and you were worried about me. Gomen Kurosaki-kun, I didn't mean to make you worry." She said softly.

"Gah, Inoue, next time at least have your phone near you." He gave her a lopsided smile.

"Hai!" she punched her fist into the air and he couldn't help but chuckle as they walked the small distance to her house.

"Anyway, Kurosaki-kun can't be mad at me! I brought you a surprise!" She squealed as she opened the door and walked in.

"A surprise?" Ichigo asked incredulously while shrugging off his jacket.

Orihime removed her shoes, went into the kitchen and returned with a plate in her hand, moving to the table. She pulled out a brown paper bag from her work sack and held it out with a look of glee on her face.

Ichigo looked at it with one eyebrow raised. "What's that?" he said as he moved towards the table, kneeling beside her.

"Let me introduce you to the 8th wonder of the world! Kamiya-san's famous chocolate inventions!" Orihime squealed in delight as she started placing the different chocolate goodies around the plate.

Ichigo took his gaze off her endearing face to look at the varieties of chocolate on the plate. They looked amazing…

Orihime picked up one and placed it in her mouth. All Ichigo could do was just follow her movements. "That, Kurosaki- kun, was a cinnamon truffle…Hmm...It's so delicious….You have to try one" she moaned and then giggled when she noticed Ichigo wipe his mouth with the back of his hand as if he were drooling.

Ichigo snapped out of his reverie when he heard her giggling. The chocolate looked so heavenly and the way she made it sound just urged him to try it. He was so mesmerized by the sweet smell of it and the decadent look it had, that he had lost all train of thought.

He frowned at her catching him off guard and did what he did best, passed the embarrassment, "Oi Inoue, close your mouth when you eat" he added nonchalantly, trying to avoid her surprised look and fighting back the laughter.

He picked a truffle up and put it in his mouth. His eyes widened in shock as he sucked on the chocolate, allowing it to melt. He couldn't stop himself, "Inoue… This is… this is… amazing…"

He looked at her and noticed her mouth was now set in a thin line, her eyes were shimmering and it looked as if she was trying to hold something in.

"Inoue… What's wrong?" He asked cautiously.

He jumped back in shock as he got sprayed in the face with chocolate flavored spit. His eyes were as huge as saucers as he watched her roll on the floor laughing her guts out, trying to get out a coherent sentence.

"K…Kuro…Kurosaki-kun… told me not to ta…talk…with my mouth open…hahahaha…and he went and…did it himself! Hahahaha!"

He just sat there, looking at the auburn-haired beauty hold her hands around her stomach, laughing like a maniac, tears rolling down her cheeks and he couldn't help but burst out laughing too.

When their laughter subsided into bouts of giggles, they looked at each other smiling and chuckling together until Orihime looked at him quizzically.

"Kurosaki-kun, why do you have flecks of brown on your face?"

"Nani…?" Ichigo asked, wondering what she was talking about. He lifted his hand to his face only to feel wet spots on his cheeks and nose, realisation hitting him. "Aahh! Inoue! You sprayed me!" he whined, in true Ichigo fashion, as he rubbed his face with the back of his sleeve.

"Nani! Gomen! I just couldn't hold it in! Matte!" Orihime apologised and got up quickly, running to the kitchen and returning with a towel.

"Aahh Gomen Kurosaki-kun!" She said hastily, moving over him as she practically scrubbed his face with the towel.

"Mmmpf- Ino-Mmpf…Matte! Inou-mmpf!" Ichigo tried, failing miserably.

Orihime stopped and looked at him questioningly. "Kurosaki-kun, are you trying to say something?"

Ichigo just looked at her disbelievingly. "Inoue, that's too hard! You're gonna peel my skin off!"

"Eh? Oh! Gomen! Heh eh eh… I seem to be getting everything wrong today huh." She replied as she moved away from him, rubbing the back of her head.

Ichigo chuckled, "Well not everything, the chocolates were right" he smirked playfully, throwing a different truffle in his mouth. He was now sitting Indian-style, leaning back with his hands outstretched behind him.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime pouted from her place across him, she was sitting on her legs, arms twisting the towel in her hands and head bowed, looking at him with a pouting face.

Ichigo smiled, she really was cute when she did that. He leaned forward and nicked her chin upwards with one hand and pushed the plate towards her with the other. "Oi, don't give me that look, eat up before I finish them."

Orihime smiled and pushed the plate between them. "Na uh Kurosaki-kun, this is my apology chocolate!"

"Hmm… Yeah, on the other hand I think I'll keep these to myself." He replied, pulling the plate closer to him and far away from her. "I haven't forgiven you yet for that mishap so I think I'll enjoy these myself. And anyway, who said you could have one in the first place Inoue, eh?" Ichigo taunted, trying his hardest to hold the laughter in.

Orihime's eyes widened. "Gomen! I didn't even ask!"

Ichigo burst out laughing at her expression and she knew he was making fun off her.

"Well it's not like I ate that whole one myself Kurosaki-kun" Orihime said, placing her finger on her chin.

"Nani? What are you talking about? I literally saw you annihilate it in your mouth" Ichigo retorted.

"Yeah, I had most of it, but you still ended up with some on your face…Hahahaha" Orihime burst out laughing again.

Ichigo just looked at her in shock for about the tenth time that afternoon. He never knew she could banter like this. It was so refreshing and amazing at the same time, to learn all these new things about her as well as becoming so comfortable in her presence to a point where he didn't have to keep his trademark scowl in place.

He also couldn't believe he was behaving this way. He couldn't remember the last time he laughed, smiled, or had this much fun.

He had to admit, they really were getting closer, and he felt really comfortable in her presence, especially after the conversation they had over their families. He had felt so angry at her parents for treating her and her brother that way but she had taken it all in her stride.

He remembered looking at her in wonder and thinking that she really did go through a lifetime of hurt and she still came out smiling. At least he had his family, even though they could be annoying at times, he still loved them and would be lost without them and she made him realise that he really shouldn't take things for granted.

She, had no one… No one to come home too… and he felt for her, his heart softened and he decided to tell her about his past, to share something with her that he hadn't told anybody else, just like she had shared a part of her past with him.

He now felt so at ease with her that he could tell her anything and he knew she wouldn't judge him or laugh at him, or punch him in Rukia's case, when he displayed his emotions. She'd give him a few kind words or sometimes just smile in reassurance, which was all he needed.

He had even been watching her more closely at school than usual and noticed her extremely clumsy ways. On one or two occasions he had actually yelled at her but felt bad afterwards. He couldn't explain it but he just felt the need to protect her a lot more lately, to keep her safe. Maybe it had something to do with the way his hollow was behaving towards her recently, but he couldn't tell for sure.

Another thing that he couldn't explain was the weird feeling he would get when she looked at him with that supernova smile of hers or how he seemed to notice how beautiful she really was, and he meant _really_ notice.

He shook his head off the strange thoughts and looked at her recovering from her heavy bouts of laughter and chuckled, "Come on Inoue, Let's get down to work."

"Hai" She smiled and set her books on the table.

He looked at her, smiling as he too took his books out. He realised that that had really been the most he had ever laughed in a long while… His cheeks were literally paining! It actually felt good…

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As they worked together, Ichigo couldn't help but notice Inoue's eyes glance his way all the time and ever so often she would swipe at the side of her mouth with the back of her hand. He was becoming flustered and could feel the heat rise to his neck at the notion of her staring at him all the time. Why was she glancing at him?

He popped one of the mini brownies in his mouth and that's when he noticed from the corner of his eye, the slight bit of spit dripping from the side of her mouth. That was it! The chocolate goodies! Ichigo would palm his face if he could… And here he was, thinking she was looking at him!

He got over his mishap and grinned, "Inoue, what's wrong?"

"Eh? Nothing Kurosaki-kun, why you ask?" Orihime replied, not taking her eyes of his mouth as he chewed on the brownie within.

"Oh, well I was a bit worried, maybe you were dehydrated or something. You have some spit dribbling down the side of your mouth"

"Nani!" Orihime squealed and turned her head, trying to hide from Ichigo as she wiped her mouth. It had been nagging at her the entire time, having those chocolates at such a close distance and not being able to have one was just madness.

Ichigo chuckled at her bashfulness and took the plate in his hand, putting it in front of her. "Here, I was only kidding before, I was gonna share with you, just wanted to make you squirm a little."

Orihime turned and looked at him with a pout. "Kurosaki-kun is so mean…. But I forgive you!" and she hurriedly shoved a truffle and a brownie in her mouth at the same time.

Ichigo just raised his eyebrows at her and laughed outright. "Oi! Slow down Inoue!" Where the hell did she put it all… Well there was one obvious place that came to mind but he didn't want to go there…

"You have a nice laugh Kurosaki-kun, you should use it more often." Orihime said, without a hint of embarrassment, like it was the truest thing on the planet.

He just looked at her with wide eyes and shook his head. "Arigatou… Inoue… I like yours too…" to which she smiled back at him.

Before they could continue with their work, they both stiffened at the stifling reiatsu they both felt.

They looked at each other when suddenly Ichigo's badge started going off like crazy.

"That doesn't feel like any ordinary hollow Inoue… And there's more than one." Ichigo said, eyebrows furrowing.

"Hai…"

He slapped his badge to his body and dislodged his shinigami form.

"Whoa, where are you going Inoue?" He asked as he noticed her slip on her shoes and throw on her jacket, opening the door.

"To help Kurosaki-kun. You go on ahead and I'll catch up." She replied

"No. I'd prefer it if you stay here. If anyone is injured, I'll come get you when the fighting's done." And he turned to shunpo away when her voice stopped him.

"No. I'm going Kurosaki-kun whether you like it or not. I can help, you're just going to have to trust me."

Ichigo looked at her stern face and was shocked over the determination in her voice. Usually when he would tell her to stay back she would listen. It seemed like Inoue had changed, a lot…

"Aa… Come on then, jump on my back it will be faster this way." He gave her a stern look as she tried to protest. "I don't want you going there on your own, I'd prefer it if you were closer to me."

"Arigatou!" Orihime squealed at his acceptance, trying hard to hide her blush. Ichigo blanched at her change in expression. From deadly determined to gleeful and excited. He shook his head and turned around, kneeling for her to get on his back. He noticed she was hesitant but eventually wrapped her arms around his neck as he put his hands under her thighs, lifting the both of them up.

He instantly flushed. He could feel her generous breasts pressed up against his back and her legs were squeezed tightly around his waist. Thank goodness she wasn't wearing one of those skirts she usually did, although it would be nice to know if her skin felt as soft as it looked…

He swallowed thickly and tried to erase the rampant thoughts in his mind. He needed to get to the location fast and get Inoue off his back even faster.

He didn't like these emotions he was feeling with her literally wrapped around him, solely for the reason that he couldn't fully understand them. He would think about it later. Right now he had business to take care off. He shook his head, getting rid of the unbridled emotions and the cackling of his hollow as he flash stepped away.

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Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **himelove22, moonstar31548, nypsy, vfergus, therussell, HypnoDarkrai5, sjlc18, shadowanime1, OrihimeKurosakiInoue, mspris, aimee hime, Helpless Dreamer, SkywrdSwrd, killerqueen04, XtremeGal87 and Chewie Cookies.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it:**Boobie-Chan,** **himelove22, moonstar31548, VirgilTheart, shintochick, nypsy, sjlc18, shadowanime1, KingOfTheIceLord, OrihimeKurosakiInoue, XtremeGal87 and Chewie Cookies.**

Thank you guys soooo much for supporting this story, it really means a lot to me. Although I just haven't felt too motivated lately, it took me a while to get this out and still I'm not entirely sure about it…

Hopefully I will get the next chapter up soon, I might just need a kick in the rear to get going, lol.

Once again, thanks and TC :)


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Bleach

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Chapter 5

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They arrived at the scene to see a soul in the form of a little girl, huddled against a tree sobbing.

Ichigo landed on a patch of grass to let Inoue off. He was glad but disappointed at the same time. The short trip there had her pressed so close to him that her scent had literally been permeated into him. He was practically intoxicated by the smell of lavender on her and on more than one occasion he had almost stumbled due to it affecting his senses...

He shook his head and walked behind Inoue towards the girl. He watched as she interacted with the soul.

"Hi there… Are you okay…" she asked the girl, who looked no more than 5 years old.

"The monsthers want to eat me… Pweese save me…pweese" the little girl sobbed

Orihime grabbed the girl in a tight hug and held her close when she shivered at the sound of trees breaking and the unmistakable sound of hollows. They all looked up towards the sky and both females gasped to see more than 8 hollows circling the air.

Ichigo cursed at this. It's not like he couldn't handle them but his main concern was protecting Orihime and the little girl. These hollows looked fast and he was sure they all wouldn't attack him at once.

There were sure to be a few 'intelligent' ones that would be clever enough to avoid his high spiritual pressure and let their dumb comrades be slaughtered by him while they made their way towards the females.

He kept his eye on them as he unraveled Zangetsu. "Inoue, I want you to take care of the girl and I'll take care of the rest."

"Hai!" Orihime replied as she held the shaking girl, moving away from Ichigo as he called out his Bankai.

He didn't want too, but by doing so he could finish things up quicker. He slashed through four as fast as possible, making sure to check if the girls were okay between hits. As he made to attack the next one he noticed out of the corner of his eye, one of the hollows was making its way towards Inoue and the soul.

He stiffened and turned to rush towards them, distracted, and not noticing the large hollow to his left which barreled into him causing him to crash to the ground. He got up fast to hear Inoue call out to him in worry.

When he looked towards her, he noticed Tsubaki return to her hairpin and the remains of the hollow wither away. He was thanking his lucky stars Orihime had a hold on her powers.

He looked to the sky and watched as the same hollow that attacked him before, dove for him once again. In one swipe it was dealt with.

He finished the rest and slipped out off Bankai. Although he made quick work off them all, with the speed he used, it had been a bit taxing as well as considering his lack of training recently. When he turned back to walk towards Inoue he realised that the hollows he had faced had quite a large amount of spiritual pressure combined but somehow what he had felt at Inoue's house felt greater.

He walked to the girls and prepared to complete a Konso on the frightened soul. After reassurance from Inoue, the girl accepted and released her fears, ready to leave for a new world. Once she was sent off, Ichigo turned around and surveyed the damage, taking a few steps away from Inoue.

Something was nagging at the back of his brain and his hollow was scratching at the inner workings of his mind for some reason.

"What's wrong Kurosaki-kun?"

He looked up to see the auburn-haired beauty smiling at him with a questioning look but in the next instance her eyes widened and she gasped, shouting his name.

He turned just in time to clash swords with the offending spiritual pressure. He gritted his teeth as he tried to push the heavy sword away, looking up into the grinning face of an arrancar. He shoved him a distance away and panted slightly.

What the fuck was an arrancar doing in the world of the living? Weren't they all exterminated by that freakish 12th Division Captain?

"What the fuck do you want here?" Ichigo growled.

"Just having some fun, shinigami-_san._" The hollow mocked.

"Look, just go back to fucking Hueco Mundo and I might just refrain from blasting your ass" Ichigo retorted cockily.

"Bring it on shinigami." The arrancar laughed as he released his resurreccion.

Ichigo watched as he morphed into a being with large, thick and extremely long tentacles with blades on each of them.

Ichigo shook his head, here we go again… Before he could tell Inoue to get her ass moving out of the park, he just managed to dodge one tentacle that was aimed for his head but totally bypassed the one aimed for his torso. It slashed open his skin, blood immediately pouring out. He heard Inoue scream out his name as he went spiraling to the other end.

He got up on his hands and knees, placing one hand over the cut and groaning in pain. He heard that creep laugh at her and he looked up. He immediately stiffened when he saw the arrancar aim a tentacle toward her and in the nick of time her shield came up.

He looked on in surprise as not only did her shield look larger but it completely stopped the tentacle without breaking. She then sent Tsubaki out, cutting off the offending limb.

Ichigo was stumped. When did she learn to fight like that…? He was broken out of his stupor when he heard the arrancar roar in pain and anger at Inoue, making an attempt to lash out at her again when he heard his hollow howl within his mind.

"_**Move King! Her shield won't hold a second time!**_"

Ichigo flash stepped in front of her and slashed at the next tentacle, completely cutting it off. He didn't take his eyes of the offending creature as it screamed once again and doubled back. "Inoue, are you okay?" he asked her.

"Hai, Kurosaki-kun"

"Good" with that he called out his Bankai, without pulling on his mask and took off to fight the insipid creature.

He was winning, managing to cut off a couple more limbs but the other limbs weren't relenting in giving him a good shot towards the offending creature's body. There were just too many tentacles. Also, he was becoming distracted on the amount of times the arrancar's attacks almost reached Inoue thus managing to receive a couple of cuts here and there on his already bruised body.

The arrancar must have picked up on his distraction and was almost inches away from implanting one of the thick blades within his torso when he heard Inoue scream his name and then a foreign command.

He turned swiftly to watch as a tri-shield formed in front of him as the blade struck it, only this time the shield repelled some kind of bombs off it, blasting away the entire tentacle and part of the arrancar's torso.

Where in the hell had Inoue learnt that! He also noticed his hollow had stopped raving to be let out, just as stumped as him. When did she get this strong…? He'd have to ask her later because he wasn't the arrancar's target anymore, she was, and Ichigo wasn't having that.

With its attention drawn towards Inoue, Ichigo flash stepped behind it, sending a Getsuga Tensho threw its mask and torso. It withered away before it even hit the ground.

He turned to Inoue and made his way towards her. He looked her over for any injuries while pushing his hollow back, who was hollering at him for being too sloppy.

"Are you okay Kurosaki-kun?" she asked as she looked him over as well.

He just stared at her. When did this kind hearted and soft spoken woman learn to fight like _that_? He knew Inoue's powers and he knew that they were more capable than how she usually used them, but then he knew why she used them the way she did, because she wasn't a fighter at heart, she was a healer… So where did all _that_ come from?

"Kurosaki- kun?"

"Inoue… when did you learn that technique… I didn't know you could do that…"

Orihime smiled shyly, "I trained before I was taken to Hueco Mundo, with Kuchiki-san and although it strengthened my powers, it wasn't enough… So when I got back from Hueco Mundo, I did a lot of thinking and a lot of searching. I wanted to stand side by side with my friends Kurosaki-kun… Not on the sidelines anymore… I don't want to be the damsel in distress that always has to wait to be saved… And most importantly, I don't want to rely on you all the time… So I trained, trained to get stronger so, I too, could protect my nakama…"

"Inoue…" Ichigo was dumbstruck. "You know you didn't have to… You weren't ever relying on us, it was more like we were relying on you…"

Orihime scrunched her brows, "I don't understand Kurosaki-kun… I never protected anyone…All I ever did was heal everyone…"

"Exactly… You-" Ichigo was cut short when he noticed Chad and Ishida come up to them. He sighed, he'd continue this conversation later. It looked as if they had a lot to talk about, and so did his hollow and himself…

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After they had explained everything to Chad and Ishida, they all made sure to be more aware of any spikes of reiatsu around town.

Inoue healed him, despite his protests, and they both made their way to her apartment. It was late and they couldn't get in any more work so they decided to go at it again on Monday. He picked up his stuff and said his farewells, leaving, but not before he made sure her apartment was secure.

His walk home had him thinking about what had happened at the park. He wanted to know more about her new found techniques as well as the true reason she felt the need to train. Inoue was different compared to how she used to be, there was no doubt about that. He just wanted to know what exactly she had experienced in that waste land that brought about this change.

He arrived home and had a quick dinner and shower and hit the sack. He was exhausted, it had been a while since he had fought.

"_**Exactly! That's why you were fighting like such a pansy ass today!**_"

Ichigo growled, he wasn't in the mood for his hollow at the moment. "_So? I still beat him._"

"_**You might have beat him, but once again you failed to protect the princess,**__King_**…**"

"_What the hell is it with you and Inoue!_"

"_**Tch… You fail to do so once again and I will take over, for good this time.**_"

Ichigo was getting irritated and he was definitely getting nowhere with his hollow so he decided he needed to beat an answer out of him.

As soon as he entered his inner world, he dodged an incoming blast from his growling hollow.

"Fuck! What the fuck is your problem! You almost took my head off!" Ichigo hollered.

"**That's the point King!**" The hollow grinned manically. Ichigo noticed something odd and different about his grin though.

Ichigo flash stepped towards him, slashing at him but only clashing with the white counterpart's sword. They glared at each other as they both fought for dominance.

"Why the hell are you always on about Inoue! You have no business with her!" Ichigo grunted

The hollows face contorted in anger and he growled as he forcefully pushed Ichigo a good few paces away. The inverted copy took his attention away from Ichigo and started pacing pack and forth, his own Zangetsu hanging from his hold.

Ichigo noticed the odd look on his face, it was almost contemplative… Ichigo decided to relay some of his own thoughts, maybe he'd give him a proper answer.

"I've realised something… The only reason you've been scratching at my mind and becoming agitated is every time Inoue has been involved with a hollow or when she was in danger. I've known you for quite a while _Hollow_, and never once before have you ever behaved this way to _protect_ someone… Just what the fuck is going on? And what does Inoue have to do with all this?"

"**You!**" the hollow replied, pointing his Zangetsu at Ichigo, "**Are too damn thick too understand!**"

"You're still not answering the fucking question!" Ichigo snapped in frustration.

The hollow frowned and dropped his hand which held his sword, "**I knew you wouldn't have figured it on your own! Tch… I can't really explain it myself but **_**that**_** woman is embedded in your soul King, our soul.**"

"What do you mean…?"

"**I mean that every time she rejected our injuries, a part of her was embedded within us. Why do you think when she called out to you, you rose from the dead, for **_**her.**_** I'm all about instinct King and she's been ingrained so deep within us that part of my instinct is to **_**protect her**_**. If it's my instinct, it's yours as well Ichigo.**"

"But she's healed many of our nakama, that would mean that a part of her is embedded within them all, but I don't see them going crazy like you to protect her!" Ichigo yelled out of frustration.

"**You really are dense King…**"

Ichigo just looked at the serious face of his hollow with a dumb look on his own. The white counterpart definitely looked like he didn't want to explain that statement so he bypassed it, leaving it for another time. "H-How do you know all of this…?"

"**Because I can **_**feel**_** it, and you can too, but your brain is a pile off mulch for you to comprehend it!" **The hollow yelled, annoyed to which Ichigo growled.

The white counterpart continued, undeterred from the murderous glare he was receiving from the orange-haired substitute,** "Tch…But that's not the only reason. **_**Her**_** being a part of **_**us**_** isn't the only reason you strive to protect her, you protect her for your own reasons. The other is the promise you made to her King.**"

Ichigo remembered his promise to protect her. He didn't do such a great job on that, she was still taken to Hueco Mundo…

He looked down at the ground, face falling, remembering how lost and empty he had been when he found out that she was gone. He didn't want to believe she was dead, there was no possible way. He couldn't explain it at the time but he just knew that she was still alive. He had just felt so horrible that he wasn't able to keep his promise to protect her…

"**Don't fucking get depressed on me now, we brought her back. She's safe, but if we intend to keep it that way, you need to get your ass in to gear and protect her properly King! You're too sloppy and weak! And why the fuck does she need to train to defend herself and protect everyone else when it's **_**our**_** job to protect **_**her**_**!**" the hollow screamed, pointing his sword at Ichigo once again.

Ichigo gritted his teeth, "Don't you think I fucking know that!"

"**No! I don't think you do! So you need to fucking get it together or I might just come out there and do the job myself, but I won't be as relenting as you Kingy, and I definitely won't be so nice to the people you know… **_**And**_** I might just take our little princess as my prize, she looks rather delicious doesn't she?**" the hollow replied, licking his lips and grinning evilly, his true personality showing.

"You'll never get the chance you bastard… You'll never touch Inoue" Ichigo gritted his teeth as he watched his hollow swing Zangetsu over his shoulder and walk away, all the while laughing to the sky as loud as possible, leaving him with, 'we'll see King, we'll see…' as he vanished.

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Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **auditorytoo, jigoku-kage, Treulos, XBlueFlamingoX, RJOHNNiiE, PeKan, Renting, aiko1991, Tannked, indigo yamanaka, himeangi, strawberry-hime3, Djoune, Sakurajasmine and Aiasaka.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it: **Chewie Cookies, nypsy, shintochick, KingOfTheIceLord, himelove22, VirgilTheart, Treulos, shadowanime1, halcyon.666, OrihimeKurosakiInoue, Tannked,** **Racholasj and Aiasaka.**

I know you guys might be getting tired of this but I'll say it anyway, THANK YOU! Your reviews really motivated so much that I actually typed out a few chapters, not only one o_O. Lol, they still have to be edited but there won't be that huge breaks between updates.

To halcyon.666, I sent you a reply on your account, so you can check it out if you still use it :)

Thanks again guys and TC.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** I'm having a huge problem with the editing on this, when I uploaded it, there were no spaces in between the words that were bold or in italics and I couldn't edit it on the site… :( I really don't like how it turned out but I had to update cause I didn't wanna leave my readers hanging especially seeing as this update is so late due to other problems I encountered…

So the conversation that Ichigo has with his hollow is within his thoughts…

Please accept my apologies for this…

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Bleach

Chapter 6

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The next day, while at work, Ichigo had thought about the conversation with his hollow. Was that why he always felt the need to protect her, to watch out for her more than his other friends? He knew she was the weakest from them all when it came to fighting and he couldn't explain why he never wanted to see her bloody or bruised.

Why, when it came to her, he never had it in his heart to scream at her the way he did with his other friends, and she was one of the few people that actually received a genuine smile from him. He definitely treated her differently from everybody else, not to mention that his body would move before he could even make the decision to protect her. Was she really engrained within him…?

Maybe that was the reason he always felt calm and at ease in her presence and it also could explain the fact that he was always able to sense her reiatsu better than others, like that day on the bench in the park and that morning…when he realised his hand was healed…

His hollow also mentioned that besides her being embedded in his soul, he had another reason to protect her. That was obvious, it was because she was his nakama and he'd never let anything happen to her. Not to mention the promise he made to her, which wasn't a once off thing, more like a lifetime guarantee. He cared about her…

It bugged him that his hollow seemed to know more about his feelings than himself. It seemed that he kept insinuating that there was something more about his and Inoue's relationship than her just being his nakama and her being embedded within him…

But that could make sense when thinking about the strange emotions that were running through him when he held her on his back. He'd held Rukia like that before but he never felt like _that._ He was totally lost in Inoue's smell and the feel of her soft body pressed to his.

His body had felt weird and heated at the sensation of her large breasts pressed against his back. Her hair felt soft against his neck and he had actually wished her dainty hands wouldn't let go off his shoulders.

He had never felt this way about a girl before because girls had never been a top priority in his life unlike Keigo or Mizuiro. He couldn't say he wasn't curious, he was a teenage boy after all. He had seen a few of those R-Rated magazines Keigo had shoved in his face _and_ there was that time when Rangiku had tried to show him her goods and he'd given himself a finger space when he had his hands over his eyes…

However, he wasn't a pervert and he prided himself on that. When Yourichi presented herself naked in front of him, he had had some semblance of control not to stare. Maybe he was a prude but he believed in respecting women. He didn't want to be one of those guys that ogled women's bodies and treated them like a piece of meat. He was better than that.

However, there was no way he could deny the odd sensations he had felt over Inoue's body pressed to his. It's not like he never noticed her before, you'd have to be blind not to notice that she was a beauty. But aside from her looks, was the most amazing personality she carried.

She was friendly, too friendly in his opinion, sweet, kind and always welcoming. She never had a nasty thing to say about anybody, not even her enemies. She was always thinking about others and putting herself second, like the time when Yammy had injured them all. She had made sure to heal everyone else first before herself. Who does things like that…? Only Inoue…

He smiled at the thought. He had never really given that much thought about it but with recent events and the two off them spending so much time together, he really got to know her. She wasn't the ditzy airhead most people thought her to be. She was actually intelligent and wise and she had the kindest heart that ever existed, not to mention the witty and slight sarcastic sight he had seen of her recently…

However, there was something that irked him, it was the change in her, more accurately, and the change in the way she was towards him. He noticed that he wasn't the first person she greeted in the morning and she wasn't always behind him or paying the same amount of attention to him the way she used to, before Hueco Mundo...

He had noticed it a few weeks after they returned from Soul Society after the war and he hadn't thought about it then, but now it grated at his mind. Even though they had gotten closer, it still hadn't changed.

She was her normal cheery self around him and he did notice she spoke to him a lot better than before, but still, it felt odd not to receive all that attention from her. He was so used to it that he didn't notice it until it wasn't there anymore…

"I don't know what you did to fuck things up but you better fix it King!"

"What the hell are you talking about now?"

"The princess doesn't look at us the way she used to and you messed that up!"

"What you mean 'look at us like she used to'?"

"Argh! You are so dense! You might not have noticed but I did!" The hollow growled out in frustration.

"Look I know she's acting differently but maybe she's just been going through some stuff."

"Well then you better find out what it is and sort it out. I don't like this. It better not be anything to do with those fearful eyes she was giving us back in that fucking waste land!"

"Since when did you become so concerned about the way Inoue behaves towards me, I thought you only want to protect her!"

"Tch… I don't have to explain everything to you. You don't watch her like I do. Watch her eyes King and you'll be able to see things that you don't want to… She's hurting and you can't even tell."

"How the hell would you know! And why the hell are you even watching her!"

"I have nothing else to do in this empty head of yours and you have to admit, our princess is quiet the beauty, ne King?" the hollow replied with a snicker.

"You sick bastard… When the fuck did she become ours? Inoue isn't a piece of property that belongs to someone!" Ichigo hollered

"She's our property Kingy… Or, if ya want, I could come out there and just take her for myself…" the hollow laughed.

"Not gonna happen."

"Then I suggest you find out what's been going on with her before I do, Ichigo."

"Shut up, you don't have to tell me what I've been thinking of doing for a while now."

He really couldn't understand the fascination his hollow was having over Inoue recently…

When he got no reply from his hollow he figured the conversation was over. He hadn't even realised that his shift was almost over, stuck in his thoughts with his other half had taken up some time. He decided he'd head straight on over to Inoue's place after work and maybe he could find out what's going on.

Although, he never really noticed anything beneath the surface that his hollow had mentioned, but he had wanted to ask her about her stay in Hueco Mundo for a while now. What if his hollow was right and the only reason she was behaving that way towards him was because she was still afraid of what he had become…

He also wanted to know if there was any truth to the statement Grimmjow had made. Not to mention the events that took place last night and her new techniques.

Once his shift ended, he packed his things and made his way to her apartment.

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He walked up the stairs and knocked at the door, waiting for her to answer. He waited a while and then knocked again, frowning. He could feel her reiatsu in her apartment, what was taking her so long? Before he could knock again, he heard loud footsteps, as if she were running and then the sounds off locks been unlatched, until the door opened fully, revealing an out of breath Inoue.

She looked at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. "K-Kurosaki-kun… What are you doing here…?"

He was about to answer when she got over her shock and started bumbling.

"Gomen! I didn't mean to sound so rude! Come in! Come in!" she squealed as she ushered him inside.

She closed the door and continued to string out apologies. "I really am sorry Kurosaki-kun, I really didn't mean to. I just thought that I know we didn't say we'd meet today to continue the assignment and it's Saturday so I know Kurosaki-kun will have better things to do and-"

Ichigo placed one hand on her right shoulder and held up his other hand in front of her face. "Whoa Inoue… Slow down for a minute…" He chuckled as he saw the embarrassment creep onto her cheeks.

He placed both hands in his pockets, frowning at the strange sensation of touching her bare skin and spoke again. "I just wanted to talk to you… Yesterday at the park, we didn't get to finish our conversation and I was thinking I'd come over…" he said quietly, feeling a bit embarrassed himself, but not entirely sure why.

"Oh… Yeah, you are right Kurosaki-kun" she smiled brightly at him and he smiled back, glad she understood and didn't question him further but he saw a slight bit of doubt creep onto her face as she clasped her hands under her chin, and that's when he noticed how she was dressed.

She was in a pair of jeans, her socked feet peeking out at the ends. She had a long sleeve top on that hung off one shoulder, exposing her creamy skin which he had just made contact with, and her hair pulled over the other side in a braid.

He watched her face and she looked at him shyly, he was such an idiot! "Oi Inoue, I didn't mean to barge in like this, you look like you have plans." He said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh! It's okay Kurosaki-kun! How would you have known!" she cried, waving her hands in front of her frantically.

"I'm such an idiot, I should have called…"

"Don't worry about it Kurosaki-kun, I could just phone and cancel. It's just dinner."

"Nani! No Inoue, its fine. I'll just see you tomorrow… You enjoy your supper with Tatsuki" he replied smiling. He was such an idiot. Did he honestly think that just because she lived alone that she stayed at home all the time. Baka!

"Oh, it's not with Tatsuki… It's with my other friends" She said chirpily.

Ichigo frowned at this. What other friends did Inoue have that weren't his as well. He wanted to know, not to mention the strange perking up of his other half within him.

"Oh, who are these other friends? Ishida and the gang?" he asked, trying to be mildly curious.

"No, you're actually friends with them too! Although you haven't seen them in a while…" She said, scrunching her eyebrows and placing her finger on her chin in a thinking motion.

Nani? Who was she talking about? Oh, it must be the guys from Soul Society. Ichigo didn't realise it but his shoulders relaxed at the thought. He was about to ask her why they hadn't told him about this 'dinner' when the doorbell rang.

"He's here!" Orihime squealed, turning to open the door while Ichigo looked on, thinking why in the hell would it be a 'he'. Wouldn't Rukia come fetch her? And why the hell hadn't anyone mentioned this!

His expression turned from stoic to surprise to anger at the offending creature at the door.

"Oriiihiiimeee-chaaaan!" the blond vizard shouted as he engulfed Inoue in a bear hug, almost suffocating the petite girl.

"Shinji-san! Arigatou… but I can't breathe…" Orihime wheezed.

"Oh! Gomen!" Shinji laughed and released her, holding her by her shoulders. He then noticed the rising reiatsu of another in the room and looked up to stare at Ichigo. He gave him the widest grin.

"Ichigo! What are you doing here! I hope you aren't tying anything with my Orihime-chan…" He looked at him skeptically.

"Why you…" Ichigo growled, scowl in place.

Shinji grinned and turned Orihime to face Ichigo, wrapping one hand around her shoulders while the girl just looked at Ichigo with a strained smile on her face.

Ichigo refrained from growling and was desperately trying to shove the angry emotions he was feeling over seeing Shinji's hand over Inoue's shoulder so familiarly.

"Remove his hand off her shoulder now, King, or I'll come out there and hack it off."

Ichigo shook his head, removing the murderous thoughts of his hollow. He looked at Shinji who was just grinning at him. "What the fuck are you doing here Hirako?"

"I'm here to take my Orihime-chan out… What's it too you Ic-hi-go" Shinji drawled.

"Get your hand off her shoulder, you can see she's uncomfortable!" Ichigo hollered.

"I-It's okay Kurosaki-kun! You guys don't have to fight…" Orihime said timidly, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Gah, See how he behaves Orihime-chan. I haven't seen him in ages and he treats me like a stranger…" Shinji drawled mockingly.

Before Ichigo could reply, Orihime yelled out, "Oh! Look at the time! We are going to be late for supper!" as she ducked under Shinji's hand to retrieve her coat at the door.

"N-Nani! You're going out with him!" Ichigo squawked incredulously, pointing at Shinji, who just grinned.

"Yeah! So there!" Shinji replied, sticking his tongue out at Ichigo childishly.

Orihime saw that Ichigo was ready to explode, his reiatsu was pulsing dangerously, and for the life of her, she couldn't understand why he was behaving this way. She thought that he would have been happy to see Shinji. After all it was the blond vizard that helped him get some control over his inner hollow.

She thought they were friends even though they argued all the time, but that was how they showed their emotion towards each other, just like how Ichigo was with Renji. Then why was he behaving this way… He looked like he wanted to really rip into Shinji… Especially when the blond vizard had held her shoulder… And right now when Shinji had said they were going out…

She stepped between the both of them quickly, smiling up at Ichigo as he looked down at her with a menacing scowl.

"Why don't you come too, Kurosaki-kun? We'll have fun! And you'll meet the rest of the gang coz we're all having supper! You haven't seen them in ages and I know, even though she doesn't say it, Hiyori-san misses you" Orihime smiled.

Ichigo gaped at her while he heard Shinji whine behind her.

"Aw Orihime-chan! Why did you have to go invite him! He'll just spoil everything!" he stomped his foot childishly.

Ichigo looked at Shinji and grinned, realising that Inoue wasn't going out with just the ex-captain, the whole gang would be there, and then he looked back down at her and smiled. "I think I will join you guys, arigatou Inoue"

"Yosh! This is going to be great!" Orihime punched her fist into the air, turning to get her keys and ushering the two males out of her apartment.

Ichigo made his way outside, giving Shinji a menacing glare to which the vizard just stuck his tongue out at him again.

He hadn't seen the rest of the vizards since the war, and he wouldn't lie, he did miss them, even the blond midget. He had been so caught up in school, then work and hollow duty that he never made the time to visit.

He was happy to see Shinji, but what set him off was the familiar way he behaved around Inoue. They hadn't known each other in school that well, had they? And why was she going out to dinner with all of them? She wasn't close with them as he was.

He sighed, he'd get his answers at the end of the night, and he'd keep that blond perverts hands off Inoue at the same time, he thought, as he watched Shinji's smile widen at Inoue as she turned from locking the door.

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**A/N:** Thanks again for reading :)

Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **Voidrae,****Racholasj,****himelove22,****shellybee,****VisceraMel,****..,****Kentucky****Redneck****and****laurikes.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it:**shadowanime1,****shintochick,****VirgilTheart,****Aiasaka,****Racholasj,****himelove22,****argentorum,****nypsy,****sallad93****and****Chewie****Cookies.**

Sorry (again) this is late, it would have been up ages ago! My PC has just been giving me all sorts of trouble and I couldn't even post it through my phone seeing as service had been down worldwide…

Finally… The anime is back in line with the manga… Thank goodness…

Oh, just thought I'd share, was looking at some maps of my district and found a town called Himeville… o_O Lol, what a thing… Well Tc people!

Kyra


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Bleach

Chapter 7

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The three of them made their way to a familiar restaurant in town, the two males bickering along the way and Orihime trying to calm them down.

As soon as they entered the restaurant, both Shinji and Ichigo got hit on the head with a sandal each, groaning in annoyance.

"Dickhead! What took you so long!" Hiyori screamed as she pointed one sandal at Shinji.

She immediately turned and pointed it at Ichigo, shouting, "And what the fuck are you doing here? Nobody invited you!"

"Gah, you midget bitch…" Ichigo said while rubbing his head, "Inoue asked me, so deal with it!"

"Tch… whatever…" Hiyori replied and turned, slipping her shoes back on as they followed her to their seats.

Ichigo grinned, just like old times. At least he knew Hiyori may scream and shout at him, but she wouldn't give him grief for not coming to see them and they wouldn't send him on a guilt trip over it.

Once at their table, he made sure to stick his butt in-between Shinji and Orihime, seeing as the blond was trying desperately to get his skinny ass next to her. If that meant he had to have him seated on his right and Hiyori directly opposite him, he'd live.

They greeted everyone and although the group was shocked to see him at first, they got over it and went on to be their annoying selves. Right throughout dinner, their table was the rowdiest. The waiter had to come in and warn them to keep it down on the threat that they would be thrown out.

One look from Kensei had him scurrying back to where he came from. They really were noisy, with Hiyori always screaming at him and Shinji, he giving as good as he got and Shinji just whining like a baby. Or when he and Shinji would start going at it and Inoue trying to calm them down. Not to mention Mashiro and her annoying voice which made Kensei yell even more.

The rest made conversation with each other, Hacchi and Inoue especially. He had watched her throughout the dinner, in-between getting jabbed in the ribs by Shinji and kicked in the shin by Hiyori, to notice that she really was at home with the vizards. Even Kensei spoke to her without his usual brash nature striking through and it looked as if Hiyori also warmed up to her.

Towards the end of supper, while everybody was occupied with each other, he decided to ask her.

"Inoue…" he slightly bumped her shoulder to divert her attention from laughing at Kensei and Mashiro's antics.

"Nani, Kurosaki-kun?" she turned to him with her sweet smile and big endearing eyes, making him almost forget what he wanted to say.

"How come you're so close with everybody here…? I didn't know you knew them that well" he asked

"Oh! Well I went to Hacchi to find out more about my powers and he offered to train me… so since I've been back, I've been going to the warehouse daily." She smiled shyly at him.

Ichigo looked at her in wonderment. That's how she gained those new techniques… She had been training with Hacchi… That also explains why she just fits in here, she probably knew them better than himself…

"Yep! Orihime-chan is part of our family!" Shinji said enthusiastically for the whole group to hear. Apparently he had heard their conversation.

There were a few nods, grunts and a loud Hai (from Mashiro) around the table in agreement to what Shinji said.

"She's even been training with us, with our masks on and she's good at it, more than I can say for you…" Hiyori said from across the table, arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed.

Ichigo shook his head, "NANI! Are you people insane! That's dangerous!" he shouted at them, turning a few heads in their direction.

They all looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"It's the best for her Ichigo. She's stronger because of it and she will be able to handle herself against a stronger enemy, one stronger than a normal hollow." Shinji said seriously, all crazy antics shoved aside.

Ichigo just looked at him with his usual scowl in place and then turned to Orihime, who looked at him with a shy smile again. So that's what this was all about, the injuries she wouldn't heal, the hollows she had been facing and how she was able to hold her own against that _arrancar._

He'd admit that Shinji was right and it would be better for her to increase her strength and her powers, but he was wrong when he said she would be able to face an enemy stronger than a hollow. They didn't know Inoue, not like he did. Sure she had showed him what she was capable of against the arrancar, the physical fight was one thing, but the mental was another….

She shouldn't have to face an enemy and attempt to cut it down, not her, not with that innocence of hers. He didn't want her tainted, he didn't want her facing the terror that came with facing an opponent., and most of all he didn't want her to face the scars that came with battle…

The physical ones… and the mental ones, especially the mental ones. She had dealt with enough of those in her lifetime…

He understood where she was coming from when she told him it made her feel more like a fighter, but that was before he truly knew her. It just made him frustrated that she would have to protect herself, it just meant that he wasn't doing his job! His hollow was right, he needed to protect her better, so she wouldn't have to do it her fucking self!

He bowed his head and looked at the table, fisting his hands tightly and gritting his teeth. "No…"

"Huh?" Shinji asked to his whispered 'no'

"You're wrong… She doesn't have to face any enemies! She doesn't have to fucking protect herself, that's my fucking job!" Ichigo yelled, lifting his head and slamming his fists on the table causing Orihime to jump, startled, and the rest to look at him like he'd gone crazy.

Ichigo shoved Shinji off the seat and stormed out of the restaurant, ignoring Shinji's curses.

Orihime watched Ichigo storm out towards the door with a shocked expression. What had just happened…? What had made him so angry like that…? She got off her seat and helped Shinji up, apologizing to him and taking off after Ichigo. She needed to know what was going on.

She found him outside, at the side of the building, his hands in his pockets, his head looking towards the sky. She couldn't see his expression because he was turned away from her so she took cautious steps towards him, softly calling out to him.

"Kuro-"

"Inoue"

She stopped short, waiting for him to go on seeing as he didn't turn around.

"Gomen… For lashing out like that in there…"

"It's okay Kurosaki-kun. I know nothing stops you when you want to scream out something…" she said softly and smiled when he chuckled.

"Hai, but I am sorry, I was wrong to do that…"

"Hmm… Ano… What's wrong Kurosaki-kun…?" she enquired.

This time he turned around to look at her, a vacant expression on his face. "Why didn't you tell me you were training with them?"

Orihime looked to the ground and fiddled with the hem of her top. Ichigo had a strange look in his eyes, one that said that he wasn't backing down until he had an answer, but she stayed silent under his intense gaze.

Ichigo was irritated by her silence, "Inoue… when you told me you were training I just thought it was to strengthen your powers and maybe defend yourself against normal hollows, I didn't know you were training with the vizards, I know the kind of training the vizards carryout, they aren't soft on anybody! And the worst part is that you were training to go up against arrancar!" he almost shouted.

Orihime looked up at him and the fire blazing in his eyes. "Kurosaki-kun… This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you, or any of our friends because I knew you would react this way." She said softly.

Ichigo scoffed, "Did you think we'd be happy about it? Kami Inoue, I can understand you fighting hollows, but going up against arrancar is a totally different thing! They aren't as mindless or easy as the usual hollow! They'll kill you before you can even think about the first move you make against them!" he screamed now, breathing heavily and desperately trying to reign in his anger and the blackness creeping into his left eye, before she saw it. His hollow was just as angry as him for the same reason.

Orihime looked at him in surprise. She didn't think he'd be this angry… but apparently he was, however, so was she. She looked up at him with a determined look on her face, there was no way she was backing down, not for what she believed in.

"Kurosaki-kun, do you think that I am not capable to train and strengthen my powers to the point where I can stand up against an arrancar? Do you think I don't have the resolve to protect my friends or myself…? Do you think that less of me…?" Orihime replied, her voice almost breaking and her eyes shimmering with tears.

"Ino-Inoue…" Ichigo looked at her stunned as she turned away from him to wipe the tears that had spilled.

He was such an idiot! He didn't think she would take it that way!

"Inoue… That's not what I meant…" he said softly and stiffened at the hurt in her voice when she spoke.

"Yes it was Kurosaki-kun. I know how everyone sees me. I'm the burden that everybody has to watch, save, and protect. I can never do anything to help my friends. I know everyone feels that I'm too soft hearted or it's because of the person I am that my powers aren't powerful enough, but I've changed since then, I've strengthened my resolve and my will to become stronger so I can protect everyone too…" the auburn-haired healer sobbed.

Orihime gasped when she felt Ichigo's hands on her shoulders and she listened to him as he spoke softly to her, his body almost leaning on her.

"I really don't know where you got your information from but that person needs to be shot"

She giggled at that and he smiled. He turned her around so that she was looking at him for what he was about to say.

"No one thinks of you in that way Inoue and for you to think like that about us is an insult. We know the person you are and we just want to protect you… The reason I got all hyped up is not because I don't think you're capable… It's just that I don't like the idea of you training that hard or you going up against any enemy such as an arrancar…" Ichigo ran a hand through his hair and turned away from Orihime.

"Why…?" she asked timidly.

He sighed and bowed his head, "Because I don't want you to fight… I don't want you to go down the path I did… I don't want you to face the things I had to… It's just not meant for you…"

Orihime walked to him quietly and pulled on his hand until he turned. She looked up into his amber orbs and stiffened. She could see the pain and hurt in them, the desolation and anguish of all his past battles.

She always thought Ichigo was a strong man, and he was, but mentally was a different story… He was still a teenager, just like her, and she never thought about how the battles he had went through would affect him…

He might seem like everything was okay on the outside and he acted indifferent to everything, but right now she could tell that wasn't the case. Kurosaki Ichigo was hurting… Now she knew why he was so against it… Why he didn't want her to fight… because he wanted to save her from the pain he went through and the hurt he was going through.

She slid her hand from his forearm and linked her fingers with his. She watched as he widened his eyes but she gave his hand a tight squeeze, "Kurosaki-kun… I-I'll be okay… I need you to believe in me… to support me. I know you think it's dangerous but I feel if I don't improve my powers or my strength, I'll never move forward. I…I can't always depend on you…"

"Yes you can Inoue, I promised to protect you and it wasn't a onetime thing" Ichigo said tightly, his amber eyes brightening with determination and the grip on her hand tightening.

"No I can't, you won't always be there to protect me and I don't want to be a sitting duck you know." Orihime looked up at him with a frown.

It was so odd to see her with such an expression that he couldn't help but laugh, completely diffusing the tension.

"I'm not joking Kurosaki-kun!" She said, still frowning and now pouting as well, which made him laugh even harder. He looked down at her 'scowling' face and lifted his unoccupied hand to even out the creases between her brow, chuckling when she looked cross-eyed at his finger.

"That look suits me better" he smiled and Orihime did the same, happy to see Ichigo in a better mood.

"You won't be a 'sitting duck' Inoue, if I can't protect you, which I highly doubt, " Ichigo said cockily, "Then Ishida, Chad, Rukia, Renji and the rest will be there in my place, baka" he finished, rapping her on the forehead with his knuckles playfully.

"Itai! That hurt Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime whined, rubbing her forehead.

"Nani! Oi! It wasn't that hard Inoue!" Ichigo exclaimed.

She laughed and he knew she was messing with him, he smirked and then lifted his right hand which held her left, and wrapped it around her neck, pulling her underneath his arm in a headlock, earning a squeal from her.

"Now who's laughing eh Inoue?" Ichigo grinned as he messed up her hair with his left hand.

"Kurosaki-kun! Matte!" Orihime squealed, trying desperately to pull her left hand out of his grip and trying to remove his hand from her hair with her right all the while Ichigo laughed, tears forming at the corner off his eyes.

"Well that's what you get for messing with me! Hahahaha!" Ichigo continued.

"Oi! What the hell are you doing with my Orihime-chan!" Shinji yelled, making his way towards them and just before he could reach them, Hiyori jumped up and pulled on his ear.

"Oi, dickhead, leave the two love birds alone" she smirked, looking at the both teens who just stared back wide eyed.

Both teens looked at each other and realised the position they were in, and just how close to each other they were, flushing with embarrassment at getting caught, they released each other immediately and apologized frantically.

"Gah, when you two are done, we'd like to go home. You're coming back to the warehouse, I wanna see just how much you slacked off Ichigo so I can kick your ass all over the place." Hiyori smirked as she dragged Shinji by his ear, the blond male sputtering something about Ichigo tainting his first love.

"Fine with me you little runt!" Ichigo yelled, he then looked at Orihime and smiled at her, motioning with his head towards the vizards. She smiled and they fell in step next to each other, following the rest of the rowdy gang back to the warehouse.

The closer they got the more their pain eased away, the lighter their hearts became from carrying around the heavy burden of the past.

Ichigo could feel it, and so could Orihime. Their steps were lighter and their feelings were at ease in the company of each other. They were a long way from healing, and they both knew there was still a lot to talk about, but they knew that they were eventually getting there…

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Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!:**littylollypop,****kitjos,****Voidrae****and****Djoune.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it:**nypsy,****VirgilTheart,****VisceraMel,****shintochick,****shadowanime1,****himelove22,****(no****name),****Chewie****Cookies,****StarFlake000****and****Perla.**

Thanks for the reviews once again, although that chapter wasn't up to standard… I really appreciate it and that's why if anyone wants to read the chapter the way it was supposed to look like, just send me a pm with your email address and I'll send it to ya.

To VirgilTheart, I hope your question was answered in this chapter :)

Thanks again to all my readers and tc.

Kyra


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I Don't Own Bleach**

Chapter 8

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As soon as they reached the warehouse and moved to the training grounds below, Hiyori immediately attacked Ichigo. Luckily his reflexes were good and he was able to slam his badge to his chest and separate from his body.

They went at it for quite a while, until he had the upper hand while in Bankai to which she instantly donned her mask, gaining on him in a flash. She was literally beating the shit out of him as well as hollering at him to pull on his mask.

He grunted as one of her attacks caught him on his ribs.

"Baka! Why the fuck aren't you pulling out your mask! I want a real fight, I ain't just playing around here Ichigo!" the tiny blond yelled.

Ichigo panted as he held his side. He could see from the corner of his eye, Inoue was waiting patiently next to Hacchi, watching their fight.

It was nerve wrecking and terrifying at the same time. He didn't want to pull his mask out… He didn't want to see _that_look on her face again… He didn't want her to look at him with fear again. Although she screamed out for him not to get hurt anymore during his fight with Grimmjow, her terrified eyes still plagued him, especially the look she had when he had become a Vasto Lorde…

He evened his breathing, "No, not yet…" and he rushed forward to land a blow on Hiyori but she was too fast with her mask on. She dodged and slammed him on his back, sending him spiraling to the ground, within close distance to Orihime.

He got up, dusting his robes and holding his ribs as they throbbed. He was breathing heavily and attempted to calm himself down before getting back into the spar.

"What the hell is your fucking problem! Put on your mask Ichigo or I'll pull your hollow out like the last time!" Hiyori yelled from her spot in the air.

Ichigo growled, Hiyori was really testing his patience. The last time she did that it didn't end out so well for her. He literally had to be subdued by all the vizards in order to let her go. That was just like Hiyori, she liked the challenge.

"_**King! What the fuck is wrong with you! Put your fucking mask on, let me remind that bitch who's stronger!"**_

"_Argh! I don't have time for you!"_

"_**Make time! Why the fuck are you scared to pull out ya mask? Your insecurities are fucking things up in here. Stop being a pussy and fight already!"**_

He could feel him pushing at the edges of his mind, dying to get out.

"_I can't! I…I don't want her looking at me like that… Not now…"_

The hollow was uncharacteristically quiet for a while, making Ichigo wonder what happened, but only for a while.

"_**Well you're making us look like a pansy in front of the princess if you just stand here and do nothing! Just put it on, finish this quickly and then she won't even have to see it. In my opinion, she shouldn't even fucking be scared of us after we, or more like I, rescued her"**_

Ichigo was stunned for a moment. Usually the hollow wouldn't give a damn about anything or anyone but apparently it looked as if he also didn't want her to be afraid of them in relation to his thirst for a good fight… It seemed like he threw that last bit in there just to show he didn't care.

He was about to reply when he felt a small hand on the middle of his back. He looked over his shoulder and saw Inoue standing behind him, looking up at him with a tentative expression.

"What's wrong Kurosaki-kun…? Why won't you put your mask on…?" she said softly in that melodic tone of hers.

He softened his eyes and smiled slightly at her, then he turned his head to look at the ground below him. "I… I know you're scared Inoue… When I put it on… I don't want you to be afraid… I don't want you to look at me in fear again…" he sighed dejectedly.

Orihime gripped Ichigo's coat in a fist and moved slightly closer to him. His body was still tense and she could feel the unease rolling off him.

"It's okay Kurosaki-kun… I'm not scared anymore… I was just afraid because when I saw your mask, it reminded me off my onii-san… and I just didn't want you to meet an end like he did… I was scared that you would become like him…That _that_ power, that mask, would make you lose your sanity, would make you thirst for battle always… b-but Nell-chan made me see things differently and I got over my fear…"

She felt the stiffness off his body leave and calmness take over. He turned around and looked at her with soft eyes.

"I didn't know Inoue… I didn't know that you saw your brother when you looked at me… I just thought you were scared off me…" he said softly.

Orihime shook her head and smiled, "It's okay now, I'm not scared anymore… I trust you… And you better put on your mask because Hiyori-san doesn't look too happy" she giggled this time.

Ichigo looked over his shoulder and noticed the extremely irritated look on the petite blonds' face, he chuckled and turned back to Inoue. He was so glad she came up to him and spoke her mind, it made him feel so much at ease and lessened his burdens. She could never know how much she had helped him by mentioning those few words.

He looked at her with a determined expression and donned his mask, watching her for any signs of fear.

She just looked at him with wonderment in her eyes and a smile on her face. He nodded at her and flashed away, smirking at the thought of giving Hiyori the beating she deserved for taunting him.

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Once their 'spar' was over, they said their farewells and he walked Inoue home. Their time had started out with a bit of agitation, with Shinji showing up, but it turned out to be a great day. It seemed as if the more time he spent with her, the more he could feel the weight on his shoulders lessen.

Something he couldn't explain though was why he was so easily annoyed whenever Shinji went near her, especially to the point where his hollow attempted to 'leak' out to give the blond a proper beating, maybe break his hands so he wouldn't place his perverted limbs on her again.

She was too sweet and innocent for the likes of him to play around with. Anyway he was too old for her, maybe a few centuries too many! He had noticed the blond Vizard trying to get closer to her while he fought Hiyori and he had 'accidently' misaimed a few attacks in his direction. His hollow was mostly behind the attacks but for some reason he couldn't argue with him.

But putting all that aside, he really had a great evening. He actually missed being around them all, and the highlight of the evening had to be that Inoue had opened up to him about how she felt and not to mention he now knew how she had gotten stronger. However, there was more that he needed to know… So as they made their way up the stairs to her apartment, he made a decision.

He watched as she unlocked the door and he entered in behind her, doing a quick sweep for any intruders, finding none. He stayed at the doorway and watched her turn and look up at him with a sweet smile.

"Would you like something to drink or maybe eat Kurosaki-kun? I could whip up something for you real quick!" She said enthusiastically.

He smiled, that was Inoue for you, always so kind hearted. "It's okay Inoue, I have to get home anyway before my crazy old man starts calling the hospitals." He chuckled.

Orihime giggled and nodded, "Hai, your sisters will also be worried"

"Yeah, but I was wondering… Seeing as I came here today to talk to you, I was wondering if… Well if I could come over tomorrow and maybe catch up on some things…?" Ichigo fumbled, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment and shifting nervously under her gaze.

She just stared at him with wide eyes, not saying anything which made him more nervous, his ears were probably hot and red by now! "Oi, I mean if you don't have plans already that is!" he muttered out, completely forgetting that she might actually be busy.

He watched as she looked at him with the same expression for a while until she blinked rapidly a few times and he actually flinched at her outburst.

"Hai Kurosaki-kun! I don't have anything else to do tomorrow! You can come over, it's no problem at all!" she beamed up at him.

Ichigo just stared at her in shock. She sure did have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the littlest things. His face softened and he patted the top of her head, pulling his hand away immediately at the familiar action and the fact that he had enjoyed feeling her soft tresses.

He laughed nervously and watched a pink hue dust her cheeks. He could be such an ass at times… Now she was feeling embarrassed at his actions. Baka… "Well I better be going, I'll see you tomorrow Inoue." He smiled at her and turned, exiting the apartment.

"Hai Kurosaki-kun! I'll see you tomorrow!" The auburn-haired beauty almost yelled walking behind him to the door.

He moved to the top of the stairs and looked back. "Oi Inoue, what are you still doing there? Go inside and lock the door" Ichigo said, trademark scowl in place.

"Hai! Sayonara Kurosaki-kun!"

He nodded at her with a smile and watched as she went inside and heard her lock the door and latch up. Once he was satisfied, he made his way home to get some well deserved sleep.

No one would understand how he felt right now… Talking to her and sharing their thoughts and burdens made him feel like he wasn't alone anymore… Even though he had his nakama, he could never talk to them about half of the things he spoke to her about. She had truly put him at ease at the warehouse. He didn't feel hurt at the thought of her looking at him with his mask on anymore…

He smiled to himself thinking about tomorrow, hoping that maybe she would open up to him some more, and maybe he could tell her about some of the things that was troubling him. He liked the thought of actually having someone to talk to, someone who wouldn't judge him and someone who knew of the things he had been through…

Hell, they had been through a lot of it together, but not all. He still needed to know what happened in Hueco Mundo and find out just what exactly his hollow had seen in her eyes...

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Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **redstar96744,****randomlittleme,****Gypsygrl86,****Magdalena88****and****6.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it: **VisceraMel,****Racholasj,****shintochick,****war90,****nypsy,****himelove22,****VirgilTheart,****shellybee,****Chewie****Cookies,****Aiasaka,****randomlittleme,****Bobbie-Chan,****Gypsygrl86,****Magdalena88,****6****and****XtremeGal87.**

You guys have no idea how sorry I am for not updating… Truly I am… I've just been caught up in reality with work and family… I hope this chapter is some sort of apology for my absence…

Tc

Kyra


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

Chapter 9

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Orihime screamed out into the empty room and shot up, successfully landing on her face at the bottom of her bed.

She slowly lifted herself up, sitting on the floor with her legs sprawled under her. She didn't even have the energy to feel the pain from her fall. All she could think about was the scene she had to relive while she had slept.

This time the whole ordeal had played out, everything had felt so real, especially the pain… She hiccupped and slowly started sobbing. The horror that scientist had put her through had been unbearable and she felt it unfair that she still had to live through it after she had left that forsaken place ages ago.

She covered her face with her palms and cried into them, trying to muffle the sounds, although no one was in the apartment. Her body felt tired as if she had literally been tortured _again._ Her mind hurt from all the images… she cried harder at the thoughts she had to endure once again… However she was brought out of her hysterics when she heard a loud banging at the door followed by a very loud familiar voice.

"Inoue! If you don't open up this door right now I'm going to kick it down!"

Orihime's eyes widened as she looked at the time. It was past ten! She had overslept and now Ichigo was yelling at the door!

Crying and awful thoughts shoved aside, she scrambled up and ran to the entrance of her bedroom and yelled, "J-Just a minute Kurosaki-kun! I'll be right there!"

That should hold him off for a second or two. He must have been knocking for quite some time if he was threatening to kick her door down! Stupid Orihime! Wallowing on what should be forgotten! She rushed and found a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, putting them on hastily as she ran to the bathroom and washed her face hurriedly.

She ran a brush quickly through her messy hair and cringed at the sight of her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She looked like a zombie… She prayed that Ichigo didn't ask her about it…

She ran to the door and calmed herself down, unlatched and unlocked the door, then grabbed the knob and pulled it opened hard with an enthusiastic, "Ohayo Kurosaki-kun! Please come inside! I'm soooo sorry for making you wait, I kinda woke up late…"

Ichigo walked in after her and watched as she closed the door behind her, latching it in the process. He noticed that she refused to look at him and her hair was covering her face. He frowned. What the hell was going on?

He was sure when he reached her doorstep, after knocking a few times and hearing nothing, he decided to feel her out and he felt that she had been distressed. Her reiatsu felt abnormal and strained. He panicked and banged on the door, calling out to her, finally relaxing when he heard her call out to him.

But now as he looked at her, he knew something was wrong. He could feel her reiatsu, it wasn't as calm as it always was and she was trying to hide her face from him. He wasn't having it. He moved closer to her and placed his hands on her shoulders and felt her stiffen.

"Inoue, what's wrong?"

"N-Nothing Kurosaki-kun… What would be wrong?" she giggled nervously, still keeping her head bowed and trying to make it sound as everything was fine. She had hoped he wouldn't notice but apparently he did…

"Inoue, look at me."

However she refused to look up at him. She laughed again, "Oh! Let me go get you something to drink ne!" she tried enthusiastically and tried to move away from him but he just held her still with one hand and gripped her chin firmly, lifting her face up towards him.

Ichigo gasped, her eyes were blood shot and shimmering with tears, they were puffy and almost halfway closed. She looked haggard and extremely tired…

"Inoue…. What happened…" he said softly, unable to keep the worry out of his voice.

Orihime looked up at the shocked look on his face. Did she look that terrible…? She tried to look away but he wouldn't let her.

"I want an answer" he said determinedly.

Orihime sighed and looked at his chest. "I-I had a nightmare… But I'll be fine…"

"W-What nightmare…?" Ichigo asked apprehensively. Was she also sharing the same feat as himself?

Orihime looked up at him curiously and realised that he wasn't asking only because he wanted to know, but it seemed as if he was asking because he _needed_ to know.

"A-About Hueco Mundo…"

He swallowed hard and her eyes widened, well as much as it could in its current state.

"What about Hueco Mundo Inoue, what happened there…?"

This time she swallowed and looked away, the loss of his hand on her chin allowing her to do so.

"It's just things that happened… It's a long way back Kurosaki-kun… I think maybe I should leave it there…" she sighed softly but immediately gasped and flicked her head towards Ichigo when he gripped both her shoulders tightly, a frightening scowl etched on his face.

"What the fuck Inoue! Apparently it doesn't look like it was a while back if you're looking like this after a nightmare!" Ichigo yelled at the timid beauty before him. He was pissed that she didn't want to tell him about it. Didn't she see that he could help her…? That he could be there for her like she has for him.

He calmed himself down and bowed his head. "Look, Inoue, It looks like you're still not over Hueco Mundo… and its okay… 'Cause I'm not either…"

Orihime's eyes widened. She would have never thought he would let her know something like that… How he truly felt… Was he suffering as much as she did? She had seen a bit of it in his eyes in the alleyway last night but this was different. He had actually said something about it…

"I-I came here to talk to you… about Hueco Mundo and how you've been coping… And don't tell me you're fine because I can clearly see you aren't. And well I just thought that maybe we could share some of our stories…" Ichigo continued, looking away and shoving his hands in his pockets after having a strong hold on Orihime's shoulders.

Orihime could see he was uncomfortable and he was practically putting his feelings out in the open, something he never did. So she decided she was going to be strong, for the both of them and not shy away this time.

"Hai, I understand Kurosaki-kun… I guess I have lots to tell you so why don't you take a seat while I go get us something to drink." Orihime said softly with a smile.

Ichigo looked at her and relaxed at the sweet, genuine, smile he was receiving from her. It caused him to lose the tension in his shoulders and the apprehension at laying his cards on the table. He nodded his head and moved to the sofa to take a seat as she made her way to the kitchen.

A few minutes later, she returned with two steaming cups of hot chocolate and a plate of biscuits. She placed them on the small table in front of them and then sat on her side of the sofa, wringing her hands in her lap.

Ichigo ran a hand through his hair and blew out some air. Here goes… "So… you wanna tell me what the nightmare was about…?"

He watched as she nodded and started talking in that sweet melodious voice of hers.

"Well… It's kind of a retelling of what actually happened there… these memories tend to play out in my dreams… This one happened a few days after I felt you guys enter Hueco Mundo… I was in my room, that's where they placed me during my stay there, and well I was just praying that you would all be alright, when the door opened. It was the number 5 Espada, the one you and Kenpachi-san fought. He said he came to keep me company but I knew otherwise, and he kept walking towards me but before he could reach out to me the pink-haired Espada entered."

Ichigo's fists were tightened at the thought of that lanky creep going anywhere near her but he wasn't sure who was the other one she was talking about. "Sorry Inoue, which one was the pink-haired one?"

"Oh, he was the 8th Espada, the scientist, he had actually helped me once before that, so I kinda felt okay with him there, especially after he reprimanded Nnoitora, telling him Aizen would be angry if he did anything to me, then he took me away from the room to his lab, saying I was safer there …But I wasn't…" Orihime trailed.

Ichigo swallowed, scared to know what happened next but he needed to know… "Go on…" he said softly.

Orihime took a deep breath and continued to relay the events of that unfortunate day…

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_It was late, she knew this because Ulquiorra had taken her tray away ages ago and it was time for her to sleep but she just couldn't… Somewhere out there, she could feel the reiatsu off her friends, the friends she came here to protect who now ended up coming to save her…_

_She was frustrated at the thought but there was nothing she could do. So she prayed… she prayed that they would be okay and that nothing would happen to them. _

_She stiffened when she heard the door open slowly, as if to drag out the grand appearance of whoever was on the other side. She waited with baited breath and almost sobbed at the grin off the offending Espada who walked into her room._

"_What ya doing Pet-sama? Nice to see you all well again" Nnoitora grinned sadistically._

"_What do you want…?" Orihime said quietly, trying her hardest to drown out the fear she felt. After he almost beat her to death, she automatically would quiver with fear in his presence._

"_Oh nothin', just a lil bit of this and a lil bit of that" he chuckled as he walked towards her."Don't be afraid, I'm just here to keep ya company…" He continued lecherously._

_Orihime could feel the sweat form on the back of her neck as her hand shook. She was about to pull up her shield when another voice called out from the doorway._

"_Now, now Nnoitora… Is that any way to treat our guest? You can see how uncomfortable she is, which is understandable considering what you did to her last time."_

_Orihime cocked her head to see the pink-haired scientist at the door with a slight smile on his face. She didn't know whether to be relieved or more scared than she already was. The arrancar here were not to be trusted, no matter how friendly they pretended to be, but he did seem as if he was here to help her, and he did keep her alive after what Nnoitora did to her the last time, so she held her breath._

"_Get the fuck out Szayel! This got nothing to do with ya!" Nnoitora yelled, clearly annoyed._

"_No can do, after your last debacle, I have to take it into my interest if I see you trying to harm her again, after all Aizen-sama said he didn't want anything to happen to her and if you don't relent now, I might just have to relay to our Kami what took place here before…" the eighth said with a cunning smile on his face._

_Nnoitora grunted loudly while Szayel laughed._

"_Come along now Orihime, let's leave Nnoitora to brood here." He continued to laugh._

_Orihime looked at Nnoitora who in turn glared at her. She then turned to see Szayel hold out his hand and motion towards himself. She took a few tentative steps in his direction, afraid Nnoitora would just jump out at her and then shuffled towards Szayel and followed him._

_He led her through the various corridors, which mostly looked the same until they reached a huge room, which was locked with a security lock and password. The room seemed to be a lab and Orihime looked around, astonished at the weird things lying around._

"_Welcome to my home Orihime. I hope your stay will be a pleasant one." He smiled at her and she just continued to look at him, his smile was unnerving…._

_He showed me his experiments and told me how wonderful it was to create and destroy them. He introduced me to his specimens and the other weapons he created for lower class hollows._

_However, I started feeling uneasy when he started talking about humans._

"_Humans are fascinating creatures Orihime… I've never experimented on one but I've always been curious to how a human mind works…" he gave her that sickening smile again as he stared at her hairpins._

_He began to advance towards her and she could feel the fear creep up her spine once again. She squeaked when she hit something soft and in the next instant bands were crossed over her chest and waist, strapping her to whatever was behind her. She was completely bound as she felt her body move in a horizontal position._

_She flayed and tried kicking and screaming at the top of her lungs but it was too late, he had her and she couldn't do a thing especially after he successfully took her hairpins away, holding them up to the light and inspecting them._

"_Hmmm… your powers are simply amazing… And all from these little instruments… So small… and easily breakable…"_

_Orihime gasped and shook her head from side to side, tears rolling towards her temples. "No! Please don't! I beg of you! Please just don't hurt them… P-Please…"_

_Szayel looked at her curiously and then tucked them in his pocket. "Very well, I'll leave them alone. Right now I'm more interested in how that mind of yours works." He walked around her and she strained to follow his movements. Suddenly all light was cut out as he placed a sort of helmet over her head and she felt a small prick on her upper arm. _

_She tried to fight it but unconsciousness took her over…_

_She awoke to find herself back in her room and loud screaming and bangs outside her door. Her breathing picked up and in the next instant the door was blown open and debris and smoke entered the room._

_Orihime squinted her eyes to see what was entering and gasped when she heard the voice of the person she missed the most._

"_Inoue!"_

"_Kurosaki-kun!" she yelled back and watched as everything cleared, to see him standing at the door, Tensa Zangetsu in his hand, smiling at her._

_She immediately started crying as he took a few steps towards her and just as she was about to run to him, she stopped and watched wide-eyed as a gleaming silver blade protruded out of his chest. She looked at his shocked eyes and watched as the blood began to form on his clothes around the blade._

_She was paralyzed, she couldn't move, all she could do was watch as the blade was pulled back, blood spluttering all over, even out of his mouth, as he fell to his knees, still looking at her in shock._

_She looked up to see Ulquiorra look back at her with a blank stare, not removing his eyes from her as in one swoop, he beheaded her beloved Kurosaki-kun…_

_She screamed the loudest she ever had and tried with all her might to go to him, to send her powers out to try and heal him, but nothing worked, she couldn't move, she couldn't do anything except cry and look at his decapitated body a few feet from her._

"_I told you Onna, all those you trust in, will die, it is inevitable." Ulquiorra's stoic voice echoed throughout the room._

_She screamed as she watched a glowing green orb form on the tip of his finger, pointed towards Ichigo's body, she watched as that same green orb engulfed his body and incinerated it to just ashes. He was gone…_

_Orihime couldn't bear the pain in her heart… She wanted to die right there and then…Why… Why did they have to come after her…? Her body wracked in sobs to the point where she was almost convulsing. _

_She felt the room spin and the scene changed to Karakura Town. She was in the park, where that enormous Espada had almost killed Sado-kun, Tatsuki-chan and herself._

_She turned around when she heard Tatsuki-chan's voice._

"_Orihime! Are you okay!" the tomboy screamed as she ran towards her._

"_Tatsuki-chan, what are you doing here?" Orihime asked, confused._

_Just as Tatsuki was about to answer her, Sado and Ichigo came running from the left. _

"_Inoue! What the hell happened?" Ichigo yelled, Zangetsu in hand, while Sado looked at her enquiringly._

_Orihime stared at Ichigo and immediately burst out crying, "Kurosaki-kun! I thought we lost you… I thought I lost you…" she wailed._

"_Inoue… I'm fine… What's with the waterworks, we thought something happened to you! Your reiatsu was going all crazy."_

_Orihime looked at him quizzically, tears still freshly rolling down her cheeks. She didn't know what he was talking about, all she knew was she had just watched him die in front of her and now he was standing there, alive and worried about her…_

"_Minna… Nothing, why would you think something happened. What's going on…?" She was completely confused._

_Before anyone could answer her, she screamed as she watched the huge Espada materialize from out of nowhere and grab Ichigo and Sado by their necks, squeezing them almost to the point of breaking. She turned to see that Ulquiorra had taken a hold of Tatsuki, holding the blade to her neck._

_She yelled for Tsubaki but nothing came forth. "Please! Just please stop this! I beg of you… Leave them alone…" she couldn't bear seeing anyone of her friends in pain and she couldn't stand the same thing happening to Ichigo again… or to both Sado and Tatsuki for that matter…_

_Was this all a dream…? It didn't seem like it at all… It seemed so real..._

"_Onna, you have a choice." Ulquiorra said as he walked forward with Tatsuki and shoved her until she was kneeling before him and Orihime._

_Orihime looked wide-eyed at both Ulquiorra and Tatsuki's fearful face._

"_You shall kill her and save the other two and yourself. If you choose not to, we shall kill all of them, leaving nothing of them behind for you to fix and leaving you alive to deal with their deaths. What is your decision?" he droned, in his emotionless voice._

"_No…No please don't do this… Please…"_

"_Run Orihime! Just go!" Tatsuki screamed, her hands being held behind her._

_Ulquiorra handed her his sword to which she shook her head and refused to take it._

"_If you do not accept the sword, I shall break this woman's fingers, one by one."_

_Orihime gasped and tried to drown out the voices of her struggling friends who were telling her to run, abandon them and try and save herself._

"_If you run, we'll just make their deaths a whole lot more painful."_

_Orihime couldn't do that to them, she wouldn't… She couldn't run and leave her friends to endure such torture. She took the sword, crying hysterically._

_She looked at Tatsuki's fearful face, as she shook her head and begged her to run. She watched as Ichigo struggled within the larger Espada's hands, as well as Sado, all while the vile creature laughed, enjoying the pain he was inflicting upon them._

_She picked the sword up and did what she had to, she didn't want to, it wasn't part of her to hurt another, but she just had to…_

_She attempted to stab Ulquiorra with his own sword but he was too fast for her, it was like he had anticipated the move._

_He grabbed the sword from her, grabbing onto her hand and pulling it behind her back with the blade at her throat and then he said two words…_

"_Kill them."_

"_Noooooooooooooo!" Orihime screamed, but it was too late. _

_In a moment, the massive Espada had broken Sado's neck, dropping his lifeless body to the ground, and then flashing in front of Tatsuki, blasting her with a cero, leaving nothing behind…_

_However, he took his time with Ichigo, punching him around, until he broke his back and tossed him to the ground, finishing him off with a cero, along with Sado's body. _

_She had to watch as the most important people in her life had been literally torn from her… her body shuddered as she cried and she was tossed to the ground, with Ulquiorra's final words._

"_I warned you Onna. Now you can live like the trash you are."_

_With that he and his companion were gone in a flash, leaving her curled up on the ground, lifeless and broken. She would never forget their eyes… She couldn't help them when they needed her the most… Maybe she really was trash…_

_As she drowned in her own sorrow, the world started spinning again, however this time she felt something heavy being pulled off her head as she was grabbed by the collar in an upright position._

_She blinked her eyes rapidly, adjusting to the light, wiping the tears from her face._

"_Pull yourself together woman"_

_She was startled at the gruff voice and reeled back. She looked up to see the most intense blue eyes she had ever seen before, and they were staring right back at her._

_She heard a groan to the right of her and looked down to see Szayel sprawled against the wall, blood dripping down his chin. She watched as he coughed and gurgled out, "I wasn't doing anything bad to her. I just wanted to see how much her human mind could handle. I was told she's a rather timid soul and wouldn't hurt a fly. I just wanted to see how far she could be pushed, no harm done."_

"_Tch, go fucking experiment on those damned mindless hollow" Grimmjow drawled and then turned his sights on her, "As for you, wipe your face and lets go."_

_He turned and shoved his hands in his hakama, walking out of the lab. Orihime scrambled off the desk and out of the doorway which had been blasted off._

_She was scared, was she following another psycho that was going to do horrible things to her… Was this all a dream like the scenario's she had been put in before. If it was, she didn't think she could take it anymore… _

_The sixth Espada led her to her room and shoved her inside. She turned to look at him as he looked at her with a frown on his face._

"_That was for my number, don't get any ideas, tch" he grunted and then slammed her door shut as she heard his heavy footsteps retreat. Once she could hear him no longer, she fell into a heap on the floor and cried herself to sleep, thankful that she could feel her friend's reiatsu around Hueco Mundo…_

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**A/N:** Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **KarumaK, mariecalza, hikari-hime 01, Sharii12, redspud, Spacey-panda, weirdcat, Danazila, Mushimaster, Drea1284, karaso, therussell, JossyLlama, BlackBlossom101, cnrvn, foxfang27, **

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it: **VirgilTheart, VisceraMel, shadowanime1, war90, nypsy, Holly, shellybee, himelove22, Aiasaka, Gypsygrl86, ChewieCookies, Drea1284 and XtremeGal87. **

Hi to everybody who's still reading this… I really hope everyone and a good Holiday season :)

I sincerely apologise for the long wait… I had a death in the family and things have just been hectic. Please bear with me with regards to updates, I'll try my best to get them out as soon as possible.

I hope this chapter is up to standard. This was the first part of a double chapter. It was getting too long so I broke it up, ending here with Orihime's flashbacks.

Thanks for reading and compliments of the season. Tc :)


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't Own Bleach

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Orihime was already crying as she relayed her story to Ichigo. Remembering all those horrible events again just broke her heart.

On the other hand, Ichigo was seething, his fists were tightened to the point where his nails were digging into his skin and his teeth clenched so hard he thought they would break. Now he knew exactly what Grimmjow had meant about her being hurt from the 'inside'…

He wanted to blast back into Hueco Mundo and pray that the pink-haired bastard was still alive so he could tear him limb from limb. He was pissed at the thought of the insanity she had to go through. The thought of anything happening to his friends and him not being able to do anything about it sent shivers down his spine. He had gone through those feelings before, but not like how she did.

That fucking Espada had put her through hell for making her witness her friends die in such a cruel manner. It was as if it really happened in her mind. And knowing the person Orihime was, she must have really taken it bad, being all alone there and not knowing if her friends were okay or not…

He had been filled with rage at the time Grimmjow mentioned that she had been hurt mentally, now though he actually ought to have thanked him for saving her even though it was due to her healing him. He scrunched his eyebrows, just realising something. "Inoue, those girls that were hurting you in Las Noches, why were they so angry with you?"

Orihime stilled and quietly sighed, remembering the events of that day Grimmjow blasted into her room. She told Ichigo everything and watched the anger burn in his eyes as she finished her story.

With an even tone, although she could feel his reiatsu pulsing heavily in anger, he asked again, "What else happened there? Before all that?"

Orihime looked away, afraid to go into detail about Nnoitora. She was afraid of Ichigo's reaction… So she tried to lie, "N-No, nothing else happened…"

Ichigo was irritated that she would try and hide things from him, was it that bad? He gripped her chin, a little too harshly, considering how he was feeling at the moment. He looked her straight in the eye with determination, willing her not to shy away. "Don't lie to me."

It may have been simple words but the tone in which they were said nearly caused her to scramble away from Ichigo. She couldn't deny him when he looked at her like that and she couldn't run away, his grip wasn't relenting. She sighed, "Hai…"

He let go off her chin and listened as she relayed the events of her first meeting with the one eyed Espada. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. At first he thought that maybe they had messed only with her mind, but now he was hearing that they had truly physically harmed her. The kindest and gentlest soul he knew was put through such horror and against opponents that were far stronger than her physically.

That fucking freak! He was disgusted at the thought of that creep anywhere near her and to think, if Kenpachi didn't arrive and he had failed, he didn't want to know what he would have done to her after. It made him sick. Just thinking about what she had went through sent murderous thoughts through his head and he could feel his hollow scratch at the periphery of his mind. He grit his teeth, wishing he could unleash hell upon those bastards for what they did to her.

He looked over at Orihime and watched as her back shook at her quiet sobs. He heard her soft words float towards him like a whisper, "I could handle the beatings to an extent but watching my friends dying in front of me while I stood there was something I could not handle... The 8th Espada made everything look so real… And when I felt Kuchiki-san, Sado-kun's and your reiatsu fade, I realised it was becoming a reality…"

He calmed himself down, realising his reiatsu had been laced with rage, and scooted next to her. He didn't know how to comfort anyone but there was always a first time for everything.

He put his hand around her and patted her shoulder.

"There, there Inoue, it's okay. I'm still alive, and so is Chad, Rukia and Tatsuki, hell, even Ishida, even though we could do without him sometimes…" Ichigo scoffed softly, hoping his stupid joke could bring her out of her despair.

Orihime gasped and turned to look at Ichigo with a shocked face full of tears and snot. "Kurosaki-kun! That's a mean thing to say!" she hit him playfully because she knew he was joking.

"Hey! I was just saying…" he chuckled.

She was glad he made her laugh and diverted her thoughts, although it was at the expense of Ishida-kun… He made her realise that he was really here, with her, and it made her feel better.

She watched as he took of his jacket and gave it to her. She looked at him questioningly.

"That's for your face, you're a mess Inoue" Ichigo tried to explain with a straight face.

Orihime looked at him in horror and grabbed his jacket, covering her face with it, mumbling 'oh God…' behind it.

Ichigo burst out laughing and pulled the jacket away from her face, she tried to move away but he gave her a stern look and then he continued to wipe her face with the item of clothing.

Orihime pouted when he was done. "Aw… Now your jackets all messed…"

"It's fine, it's only your snot Inoue, if I recall, I've had your spit on me before, not that much of a difference hey…" Ichigo chuckled at the mortified look on her face.

She pulled the jacket out of his hand and covered her face once again. He just laughed at her, and watched as she slowly pulled it down, revealing her face bit by bit to show him her amazing smile.

"There it is…"

Orihime scrunched her brows, "Nani?"

"Your smile…" Ichigo said softly, smiling at her, watching her blush.

He took a hold of her hand and rubbed his thumb over her smooth skin. He took a deep breath and looked at her in the eye.

"Inoue… I'm sorry I couldn't get to you faster… I could have prevented all of that…" he bowed his head in shame. No matter how much he tried to lift her spirits, and it did make him happy that he was able to make her laugh, he still felt responsible for what happened to her…

"If I was stronger, if I wasn't so weak all the time, I could have saved you from all that hurt! I fucking failed you even though I promised to protect you!" He was seething with anger at his inability to protect her as he let go off her hand and clenched his fists tightly to restrain himself from punching something. However, his head shot up at her stern voice.

"Kurosaki-kun, don't you ever, for even a second blame yourself for what happened to me in Hueco Mundo. I went there on my own accord." She said determinedly.

Ichigo just gave her his shocked look, one that he was using a lot recently. "But Inoue, if I had been faster, stronger… I could have been there earlier… Hell I should have prevented you from going in the first fucking place!"

"No Kurosaki-kun, it was just meant to happen that way, and maybe I wished it hadn't had happened but in the end it was because of those moments I am the person I am today… Those are some of the reasons I strengthened my resolve and decided to train harder, build my powers…" She replied.

He looked at her with recognition in his eyes, "I-I understand… I just never thought about it that way… But I still should have been there for you, you shouldn't have even been in Hueco Mundo in the first place…Not Alone… I promised I would protect you but I've been doing a terrible job…"

Orihime sighed, "Just please don't make me regret telling you all of this… It's why I didn't want to tell you in the first place… Because I knew you'd blame yourself…You've done an amazing job protecting everybody… You saved me, you came all that way for me even when you didn't know if I was alive or not and even when you were forbidden to by Soul Society… Kuchiki-san told me and you will never know how grateful I will always be to you and everyone else for coming, although I didn't want you guys to come…"

"Gah… You think we would leave you there, _I_ would just leave you there Inoue. You should know us better than that." Ichigo frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. "That doesn't explain how you healed me that night before we found out you were missing… Did you come to my room before you left Inoue?" he looked at her questioningly.

Orihime turned away, glad her hair was covering her blush. She couldn't tell him exactly what happened so she just left some parts out. "Ulquiorra allowed me to say goodbye to one person only, and I chose you. So I came into your room and I said goodbye… I'm not really sure how I healed your hand without calling out my Rikka, but I'm glad you were healed." She finished, softly.

Ichigo didn't even stop and think to ask her why he was the one she chose, his mind was centering over the fact that she had been in his room before she was taken and she couldn't tell him. He was pissed. "You mean to tell me you were in my room before he took you and you couldn't at least wake me up and told me what was going on! I would have protected you Inoue!" he all but bellowed.

Orihime flinched, "I couldn't Kurosaki-kun! He said he would kill my friends if I said anything, and you were already hurt, I just couldn't take that chance…"

"I still wished you would have told me, we could have just dealt with it, but I understand what you're saying, although it still made no difference, I still can't believe you would think we'd leave you there." He scoffed.

"I was just hoping this time you would have just stayed back... Though I am ever so thankful to minna and I will always be in your debt. I know that Aizen had 'planned' everything but somehow I still believe I should have tried harder to keep everyone safe… I still regret that you guys had to come after me… I regret the terrible things you all had to endure…" Orihime replied softly, letting a lone tear escape at the thought of the hurtful memories.

Ichigo's eyes softened, "Inoue, you know we would do it again, even if we knew Aizen planned it, we'd still come back for you… And I know we all went through some tough times to get to you but you also endured a lot just to protect us and for that I will always be grateful to you…"

"No Kurosaki-kun… I didn't protect you enough… I couldn't do anything to help Kuchiki-san, Sado-kun and you when I felt your reiatsu diminish… I stood by and watched as you got hurt so badly by Grimmjow… I stood by and did absolutely nothing but call your name when Nnoitora's subordinate crushed your body and I wasn't even able to save you when U-Ulquiorra shot a h-hole through y-you… I just made it w-worse… I made you turn into s-something y-you despised…and I'm truly, t-truly sorry for t-that…" Orihime hiccupped, full out crying, as she covered her face and allowed her hair to cover her as her body shook.

Ichigo looked at her in shock… He never realised that she felt so deeply about all that... And she was blaming herself for it all… Now he realised the look in her eyes that he saw in his dream, through the eyes of his hollow, when he had transformed on the dome… The _regret_… It was because she blamed herself…

He sighed and moved closer to her, he knew this was coming and it just seemed like the right thing to do. Pushing all insecurities and awkwardness away, he enveloped her petite body within his arms, tucking her head under his chin. She stiffened at first and he held his breath, letting it out when she relaxed and continued to sob on his shirt.

"Inoue… I need you to understand something… You were kidnapped and under watch, there was no way you could have helped us, that was understandable. Also, throughout my fights with Grimmjow, Nnoitora and Ulquiorra, I asked you to stay back and I'm glad you listened, I didn't want you to get hurt, I couldn't stand the sight of you in battle. The only regret I have is that you had to be there to witness it all." Ichigo replied calmly.

He shifted as he felt her move, his arms still around her loosely, watching as she rubbed the wetness off her cheeks. She looked up at him with those large doe eyes of hers which were red and heavy, her cheeks were still stained with wetness and her hair hung around her face. To him, she never looked more beautiful.

She looked at her fidgeting hands in her lap and softly said, "Demo… You turned into something you hated Kurosaki-kun… You fought with Ulquiorra in a way I had never seen before and it was frightening… and then when you were you again you didn't remember and you were sad… You didn't want to fight him like that… You didn't want to hurt Ishida-kun also… and I was the one who caused it…"

Ichigo frowned, here's the girl who determinedly told him a few minutes ago that he shouldn't blame himself, and here she was trying to handle the burden herself. He gripped her shoulders, not caring if it hurt and not caring about the shocked look she gave him.

"Look, I'm gonna say this once and I expect you to understand. It. Wasn't. Your. Fault. Don't you see Inoue…? You saved me, _You_ brought _me_ back. Ulquiorra blew a fucking hole right through my chest! He killed me! I was done for… That's when I heard your voice… My will to protect you, it rode deep within me, within my hollow. It was the only way I could protect you and think about it this way, if he hadn't come out, that high speed regeneration shit wouldn't have been able to close the hole in my chest… I'd be dead Inoue…" He finished, loosening the grip on her arms. He wasn't ready to tell her everything about his hollow, especially the part about her being embedded within him. He still wasn't sure about that himself.

Orihime sat completely still, letting all what he had said sink in. It made a lot of sense to her…"I-I never thought about it that way… You're right… I tried healing you…But it just didn't work…I don't know what was wrong… Maybe I was in shock and I was scared… But now that you say it that way… It makes sense…" she looked up at him and smiled.

He smiled at seeing her lips turn upwards. "You're so busy blaming yourself that you don't see all sides to it baka" he playfully retorted.

Orihime scrunched her eyebrows and looked at him sternly, "I could say the same for you Kurosaki-kun"

Ichigo wanted to laugh at her expression but sighed and hung his head instead, "You're right… I guess we're both the same in that way…"

"Hmmm…" Orihime agreed and then tentatively brought up the subject he had approached when arriving. "Kurosaki-kun… You also said you still aren't over Hueco Mundo… What is it that bothers you…?"

Ichigo continued to look toward the ground, he knew his turn was coming… She put a lot of trust in him to share some of the things that she had occurred in that forsaken place and he would do the same for her.

"Many things Inoue… At the beginning I will admit I was a bit scared… I didn't know what I was going to face and I knew this would be way different from our invasion of Soul Society. There they had rules and laws to abide by, they still had restrictions and controls in their capture of us. In Hueco Mundo it was a free for all… Death was at the top of all our enemies lists and there was no such thing as mercy…I had to be at the top of my game, no hesitation"

"I didn't know… You always seem so confident and sure of yourself…" Orihime said quietly.

Ichigo chuckled, "Yeah, I have to because everyone puts their faith in me and if I tell them how I'm truly feeling, they would lose their hope… and their faith in me, which I need the most… When I fought Ulquiorra the first time, I thought I might have a chance but I didn't expect him to be that strong. Sometimes I get a bit too over confident. It was frightening to have him punch his hand through my chest but what was more frightening was waking up to see you with Grimmjow…"

Orihime looked surprised and then remembered how dangerous and serious he had looked when he removed Grimmjow's hand off her neck.

Ichigo continued, "I never got to thank you for strengthening my resolve in the fight with Grimmjow…Arigatou… And don't try and be modest about it… You really did help me... In all my fights… Even when my body was being broken by that fucking subordinate, I had the will to pick up my sword and fight just to protect you…"

Orihime blushed at his words and she could feel her stomach do somersaults, however the feeling dissipated at his next words.

"I'm glad Kenpachi came along… I'd hate to think what would have happened if he wasn't around…

"Through all that, nothing scared me the most than that fight on the dome… I knew I was the underdog, I knew that he wouldn't show me any mercy, it was a fight to the death. When he had me buy the neck with his tail, I knew I was done for but I still tried, but it wasn't enough…"

"I didn't feel a thing when he blasted me… that was it… All I felt was a drifting sensation as I knew my life was leaving my body, but I heard you Inoue… Your voice, your tears… And it was like I could see what was happening, you next to me and Ishida trying to fight Ulquiorra. I could hear you call my name and I knew I had to do something. My hollow, he felt it too… And our will to protect you consumed me…"

Orihime watched as Ichigo ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

"Kurosaki-kun… If it is your wish, I can tell you what happened on the dome, when you… When you transformed…" She said tentatively.

Ichigo looked up at her and gave her a lopsided smile, "It's okay Inoue… I already know… I kinda got a 'bird's eye' view off everything…"

"Oh… But how…?"

"I've been having nightmares of the fights in Hueco Mundo, sometimes with different endings and such. Well recently they've been invaded of the night on the dome… And the nightmare was from my point of view, I could see everything that happened, how I basically ripped him apart…It did scare me, the fact that I could do all that with no control over myself… That I could lose myself that far that I wouldn't know friend from foe…"

Orihime looked at him with a sad look in her eyes, she watched as his hands were trembling slightly, so she boldly took a hold of it and squeezed it. She smiled when he squeezed back.

"We were scared at first, we didn't know what was happening. And when Ulquiorra fell and you were about to finish him off, we were worried. That's why Ishida-kun tried to stop you, he didn't want you to lose your humanity. That's why I blamed myself when Ishida-kun was hurt, because you kept saying you'd save me and I thought you were lost because no matter how much I called for you, you didn't stop."

Orihime could see the pain in his eyes at what she said but she carried on.

"But what you don't know Kurosaki-kun, is that I feel you still retained your humanity in that state… Due to the fact that you continued to protect me, but also, when you were about to send a cero towards Ishida-kun, you hesitated, as I called your name, you never released it even though we all knew you could have. I saw you fight in that form, you never hesitated, not once. You were fast and precise that I almost couldn't keep up with you. You predicted Ulquiorra's movements and you were always one step ahead. That's why I find it hard to believe that Ulquiorra could have gotten behind you without you noticing, if you weren't having an inner struggle off some sort…" She finished, softly.

Ichigo looked at her questioningly and then realization formed in his mind. Maybe Inoue was right. Maybe he was in conflict at the time and just maybe he had been trying to fight back to gain control as she called out to him. However, he would still thank Ulquiorra for doing what he did. He didn't want to think what would have happened if he didn't and if his and Inoue's theory failed.

"Aa.. You may be right Inoue… but that still doesn't change the fact that I almost killed one of my nakama because I turned into a fucking monster…" He replied quietly.

Orihime rubbed his hand soothingly, "No Kurosaki-kun… You may think he's a monster, and I did too at some point, but he's helped you to gain a strength that has allowed you to do what you've always wanted to do, _protect everyone_. You saved us, you, Zangetsu and the hollow within you… He's a part of you, a part of your soul, just like Zangetsu. You are who you are, don't ever doubt yourself or your powers."

He was stumped… And so was his hollow… If Orihime could accept him for what he was, and she had seen him at what he considered was his worst, then maybe it was time he accepted his fate as well and learned to live with the demon within him.

He smiled at her, "Arigatou Inoue… It means a lot…"

She rewarded him with her amazing smile, "I'm glad that we were able to share all of this Kurosaki-kun. I've been keeping all this to myself for so long that I didn't realise it was easier if I just let it out… And I'm glad that I could share it with you and you've shared your burden with me."

"Gah, I'm never good with this emotional stuff. I prefer to just move on till the next thing hits but I guess my subconscious wasn't letting me do so now. I'm just glad we helped each other" He grinned slightly but changed his next expression, "Oi, although I'd be glad if Ishida didn't hear about this" he finished, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Oh no!" Orihime beamed and saluted, yelling out, "You have my word, scouts honour!"

Ichigo chuckled at her actions and laughed even louder when he heard a somewhat loud rumble coming from her.

"… Gomen… I haven't had breakfast yet…" Orihime smiled sheepishly while rubbing her tummy.

Ichigo stopped laughing and smiled softly at her, he looked at his watch and was shocked at the time. "Well I guess we'll be getting a late lunch Inoue. What you say we order in?"

Orihime looked at the clock and gasped, she couldn't believe how much time they'd spent together sharing their burdens and experiences. She looked back at Ichigo's expectant face and conceded. "Hai, that sounds like a good idea. And I have a few movies we could watch, you can take your pick!"

With that, they ordered the food and when it arrived, they ate and watched some crazy action movie. Ichigo hardly noticed the movie because he was highly entertained by all the expressions Orihime made at the screen as well as the actions she portrayed, almost dropping her food on many occasions.

After the movie, they cleaned up and played a few games on the Sony Playsation Orihime had. She mentioned that it was a gift from Tatsuki and her family. He wasn't that big on virtual games but as he played with Orihime, he began to enjoy himself.

He also found out that Orihime had a competitive streak about her because every time he beat her, she would pout and ask to play again, making an excuse about something getting in her way or how the game was cheating her. He found it all very amusing so he obliged her.

By the end of the day he realised it was getting late and that he needed to call it a night before his family got worried.

"Inoue, it's about time I left, it's getting late…"

Orihime looked at him with a crestfallen expression to which he smirked, finding himself happy that she may not want him to leave.

She changed her expression to a soft smile, "Hai, your family would get worried as well". She woke up after he did and followed him to the door as he put his jacket on and walked out into the cold air. He turned and looked at her as she leaned against the doorframe.

"So I'll see you at school then?" he enquired, not sure what else to say after the day they had.

"Hai, and we'll be able to finish up our assignment"

He nodded his head at that and then continued to look at her, after a while he noticed her look changing to a questioning one so he smiled, "Arigatou… Inoue…"

She smiled back, "Iie, thank _you_ Kurosaki-kun…"

They continued to look at each other, no other words needed as an understanding settled between them over their previous words.

He nodded and walked toward the stairs, "Lock up Inoue" he said without turning back as he descended the stairs. As he got to the bottom, he couldn't recall hearing the door shut so he turned and looked up to see Orihime standing at the railing, waving at him.

"Oi! Inoue, I thought I told you lock up." He tried not yelling, as he frowned heavily.

"I just wanted to see you off! I'm fine, I'll lock up when you leave" she replied with a smile.

He gave her a stern look and said one word in a low tone, "Inoue"

Orihime pouted, he always did that when he wanted her to listen and she always gave in! "Kurosaki-kun can be so stubborn sometimes. Fine, I'm going. Sayonara! See you tomorrow!" She proceeded to walk backwards to her door all while waving at him.

He widened his eyes, "Oi! Watch where you're walking!" he yelled.

"I'm fine Kurosaki-kun! I do this all the time with Tatsuki-chan! She's li-"

Whatever she was about to say was cut off as she missed the target of the entrance and walked into the frame of the door, knocking her head

"Itai!" the beauty squealed while rubbing the back of her head.

"Inoue!" Ichigo was by her side in a second. "I told you not to walk like that!" he frowned at her. He pulled on her hand that was rubbing her head. "Lemme see"

"Nani? I'm fine Kurosaki-kun! It was just a bump!" she squawked as she tried to pull her hand away from his grip, which was not relenting.

Once again he sternly said her name to which she gave up trying to fight him.

He bent her head forward slightly and pushed his fingers through the thick locks at the back of her head. Swallowing and the weird sensations he was feeling from his hands in her hair, he pushed the rust colored hair aside, slightly massaging her scalp to find any bumps.

He felt her head slacken a little at his ministrations and he heard a slight whimper escape her mouth. The sound only made his gut tighten and his mouth dry. His body felt weird at the close proximity to her, coupled with the feeling of her silky hair and the intoxicating smell that was permeating his senses. Her reiatsu seemed to flow out towards him, melding with his own…As if it were calling out to him, and it seemed as if he were answering.

He swallowed thickly, unable to stop the movement of his fingertips on her scalp, just so he could hear another sound like the previous one and so he could feel her reiatsu meld with his.

"K-Kurosaki-kun… I-Is there a-a bump t-there…?"

He was broken out of his dazed state and looked down at her bowed head. Nope, there was no bump, but that meant he'd have to remove his hand, which he didn't feel like as yet. He sighed.

"No Inoue… You survived…" he chuckled as he ran his fingers down her hair from the roots at her scalp to the tips at her back. It was extremely silky and smooth, he wished he could just keep his fingers in them for a while longer. He put his hands in his pockets and stepped away from her, realising just how stupid he was behaving. What if she caught on to his actions? It would have been so embarrassing…

She turned and looked at him smiling, "Thank goodness! I didn't think I was gonna make it there for a moment! I have a hard head you know, maybe you should check the door frame for injuries!"

He outright laughed at that, glad no awkwardness had crept in-between them. "Well next time listen, baka…" he smiled softly at her.

"Hai" she replied just as soft.

"Night Inoue, go inside and lock up."

"Hai! Good night Kurosaki-kun, don't let the bed bugs bite!" she replied, punching a fist in the air.

He laughed once again, glad she was looking way better than when he first saw her this morning. He motioned his head towards the door and waited for her to enter and lock the door behind her.

He turned and made his way back home. Happy with how the day went and even more so with how strong their bond had become.

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**A/N:** Wow… It really has been a long while… Well as I mentioned in my one-shot, I had an accident so most of the time was spent recovering. Hopefully I can get back on track with this story and complete it :) My apologies for the delay…

Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **lyra dethrow writer, Celeste Devereux, Fanficlover16000, Silverveign, Weaver Chance, PuppyLove92, Newtype Juliet, SakurA-VioletA, Squizzy-Taylor, MKKU, MommyRoggers, dsaav, CBM-1701, jenrward, Devoid Dreamer, Danyta- Chan, Paradesa, marinka-emka, Karmen Rider Mirage, ExploraEni, Ducky1 and EmbraceDarkneSS.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it: **VisceraMel, nypsy, Aiasaka, Gypsygrl86, shellybee, Racholasj, Drea1284, The Golden Boy, Squizzy-Taylor, ChewieCookies and foxfang27.**

I have to say, your reviews really motivated me to get this out, I really do thank you for them. Also so very surprised at all the favourites and alerts… o_O Thank you so much for reading!

Kyra


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Disclaimer: **I Don't Own Bleach**

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Orihime could hardly sleep after the events of the day. She couldn't be happier… They had really changed the dynamics in their friendship. She felt extremely closer to Ichigo and she knew that he had revealed to her things that he would never tell anyone, most probably not even his family. She was glad that she got him to open up and at the same time she was able to share her fears with him.

A few months ago, she had hoped her feelings for him would fade with time, but now it was just stronger… Their 'new' relationship did give her some hope that maybe he might feel at least something more for her, but then again, she could never be too sure. She'd just have to be happy with the way things were for now. There was no way she could confess, it would just ruin everything they had achieved and if he didn't return her feelings, she was sure he would be very awkward and uncomfortable around her after that…

Although, she could not explain the strange sensation she had felt when he had been checking for any injury on her head. She could swear that his reiatsu ad literally intertwined with her own. The feeling had been so warm and comforting, she had felt so light and not to mention protected… She wondered if he had felt the same. He didn't give any indication that he did, but then again, neither did she. Well she had her reasons, what if she had mentioned it to him and he didn't feel a thing, it would have been so embarrassing!

She smiled though, just overall happy at how the day had turned out. She felt so much lighter… and free… it was nice sharing things with Ichigo and she felt that their new found bond was a true testament to them being nakama. So she'd leave it the way it was, sidelining her feelings, even though she wished it would be something more.

With that thought, she drifted to sleep, with a content smile on her face.

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Ichigo on the other hand was almost in the same situation. Once he was at home and in bed, he couldn't help but reflect over the day he shared with her.

He was shocked over all the horror she had to overcome after being taken to that wasteland. He knew she was a strong person because after all she had to endure, she still put a smile on her face, she still kept her sanity and he was extremely proud of her for that.

It still made him seethe with anger every time he thought about what she went through and he still felt shame over his inability to have protected her from all that hell. But he wouldn't let that get him down, he knew she wouldn't want him feeling that way.

Opening up to her had been hard at the beginning but with her warm presence and her soothing reiatsu, he caved and found it extremely easy to let her into a world where he tried keeping people out of. Talking to her had been so relieving… He felt he could breathe easier, his burdens of the past weren't smothering him anymore and he smiled at this, something he was doing a lot lately, and he could safely put all the blame on Inoue for that.

Just thinking about her made him curve his lips upwards and a strange feeling would envelop his body, the same feeling he had when he was around her, calming and soothing. As if he were floating on air.

That moment at the door just added to this, that tingling sensation of her reiatsu entangling with his, the feeling was so calming and warm, it was an enhanced feeling of how her reiatsu would wash over him. This time it was as if their spiritual pressure had merged or more like comforted each other. It was an amazing feeling to say the least… He wondered if she felt it as well…

He hoped she felt it, and by him hoping she felt the same, led him to draw a conclusion he had been pushing to the back of his mind lately. There was no doubt about how he felt about her. When he thought about it, everything added up.

He understood why he didn't like it when Shinji or even any of the boys at school got to close to her, especially Ishida, even though he knew they were just friends. He was jealous, plain and simple. All those weird feelings he was feeling around her was because he was attracted to her, in more ways than one… Today just proved that.

Being able to talk to her freely, to understand the person she was and her reasoning behind things made him see her differently. Getting to know her lately really changed his perception of her. He had always thought that maybe, mentally she wasn't strong enough for the battles they faced, but in actual fact, she may have been the strongest from them all.

It took an extremely strong person to walk freely into the devil's lair, not knowing what might happen to you, but she did it, she had courage, for her friends and herself and he would always be grateful to her for that.

Though, it had hurt him to think that she hadn't called to him for help the day she left. He would have never had let her go. Just thinking about it made his blood boil. The thought of her leaving without her saying goodbye, actually the thought of her leaving at all, set a heavy weight on his heart… Especially after recent events, he couldn't imagine her not being in his life…

Even if she didn't feel the same about him as he realised he did about her, he hoped she would remain in his life. Though it would break him to see her eventually find someone else… However, that was not his choice to make. If she decided to move to another country, the chances of them remaining strong friends would be incredibly hard. Not to mention, when she eventually found a fucking boyfriend, he would probably change her lifestyle, taking up all of her time.

Ichigo soured at that thought. He couldn't imagine her with some other guy, someone who didn't know her for who she truly was, someone who hadn't shared some of her most life changing moments with her, someone who just wanted her for the way she looked, someone who would take advantage of her kind heart… Someone who couldn't protect her…

He sighed, it wasn't as if he was so deserving of her either, but he sure as hell would try his best. Feelings like this were new to him, they were never something that he stressed over, and now look at him, he was being a soppy idiot. But who could blame him, Inoue was that kind of girl that changed him, he was always different when it came to her…

The thought of hugging someone in comfort always had been a sour feeling for him. It was just too much of an emotional act and he had been uncomfortable about thinking about it before, not to mention that he had a tinge of trepidation that he would be rejected, that if he had to actually show that kind of emotion to his friends, they'd probably turn around and give him a black eye for being a soppy idiot, namely Rukia and Tatsuki.

Though with Orihime it was different, it was okay because she accepted it and holding her and comforting her had been new to him but at the same time it felt right and comfortable. Being in her presence was remarkable.

The way her reiatsu entwined with his… That was a first… He had honestly felt as if her soul was calling out to him… and he was answering…

His eyes widened in shock. Did he feel this way about her because she has been rejecting his injuries…?

"_**And your highness finally gets it… Well not entirely being the dense idiot you are…**_" his hollow chuckled.

"_Get what? This just means that the only reason I feel this way about her is because her soul is embedded within me!_" Ichigo replied snappily.

"_**And I can't help but wonder why the fuck I'm the fucking horse!"**_ The hollow yelled to himself in frustration.

Ichigo ignored him and continued, "_It doesn't feel right! I shouldn't feel this way just because she's engrained in me! I should like her for the person she is, for the person she has become, for the person she has become to me…_" he tapered off.

"_**Think about it King, you know what she is to you now, I know you can feel it coz I can too, but think, do you really think it was just because she's a part of you that you feel that way, eh?**_"

"_I don't want that to be the reason for the way I feel about her. I don't want that influencing me, like it's a fucking spell or something. I want to fucking feel it on my own!_" Ichigo hollered.

"_**Then pull your brain out of your fucking ass and think! Why the fuck do you think that out of all your friends that she healed, you were the one, the only one, that has her embedded within your soul?**_" the hollow snickered, getting frustrated at Ichigo's denseness.

Ichigo frowned and thought for a while until he realised everything… "_Because I called out to her…_"

"_**Exactly, Captain Obvious! You should get a fucking medal for being the dumbest person on this fucking planet!**_" The white counterpart yelled.

"_Shut the fuck up!_" Ichigo hollered getting frustrated with his other half.

He couldn't believe it… From what his hollow was insinuating and what he was realising, it was him that called out to her… Or more like both their souls calling out to each other…

He closed his eyes and materialized in his inner world to find his hollow standing ahead of him, an uncanny serious look on his face.

"**Her powers were born from you Ichigo. It was obvious she was going to have some kind of connection with you, just like the giant, hell even with that midget shinigami.**"

For once his hollow was being serious and making a whole lot of sense, so he decided not to interrupt him and just listen to what he had to say.

"**You might have a connection with them, the big guy because you have an understanding of watching each other's backs and that shinigami seeing as she was the one who brought you upon this world of confused spirits and corrupted souls, but only with the princess it goes deeper King… And you can trust me on this because I'm the closet to your soul and I feel her within…"**

"What are you saying exactly…?" Ichigo asked apprehensively.

"**I'm saying that, before she could even start rejecting your injuries and permanently embedding herself within you, you had some type of bond with her. It would most definitely answer why she received powers and you can't say it was maybe because she hung around ya all the time because that dark haired tom boy has been in your life a whole lot longer than the princess and she has a fair amount of reiatsu herself**_**.**_"

Ichigo thought to himself and realised he was right. Tatsuki had been his best friend, always protecting him from bullies when they were younger, until he was able to defend himself and she did have a good level of reiatsu considering the fact that she could stand in the presence of Aizen.

"So you're saying that I liked her before I even knew it…?" Ichigo asked incredulously.

As he contemplated all his hollow was saying, he started realising a few things he hadn't really thought about back then. Why he was always so soft towards her, even when he didn't know her. Why, before he could leave soul society, he made sure to ask her if she was okay with everything. When Shinji had his arm around her at school that day he almost lost it, or why he felt like utter shit when Yammy hurt her or why he felt lost when he realised she was in Hueco Mundo.

He's hollow scoffed, "**Exactly,** **Did you ever think how it was that you knew, beyond a doubt, that she was still alive when they said she was most probably dead? Or, the fact that you cut through Hueco Mundo to save her. Hell, you even dropped saving that skinny shinigami when you heard that bat fucker say the princess's name. Don't forget how weak and pathetic you were behaving when she first saw you with the mask on. It hurt you. If it were anyone else you wouldn't have given a fuck, so why did you care with her?**"

"This is the longest I've ever heard you speaking so seriously… and you're actually making sense…" Ichigo said incredulously. He was amazed that his hollow was actually explaining things and not talking in riddles anymore. "You're right… When you think back at things…At how the way I behaved, hell, how the way I always behave towards her… It's just hard to believe that I had such a strong bond with her subconsciously… But it still doesn't make sense… Okay, I get the fact that she's embedded in our soul from her powers always being used on us and why it's only us, because I 'called' out to her. However, what I can't get is why it's so strong. She's healed Ishida and I know that fucker, even if he's my friend, feels something more for Inoue than he should." Ichigo asked, frowning.

"**Che, I always gotta explain it to ya eh… She isn't embedded within your glasses-wearing friend because he isn't the one her soul calls out too.**" His hollow replied pointedly.

Ichigo's eyes almost bulged out of his head.

"**Hahaha! I get to see your denseness at its best!**" his hollow howled with laughter.

Ichigo shook out of his stupor, "Oi! Shut it!" he bellowed, his hollow ignored him and continued laughing.

Ichigo just gritted his teeth and let him be. He had other things to think about. This meant that Inoue felt the same about him as he felt about her… That she called out to his soul just as he called out to hers… it's as if it was always meant to be… though he never believed in such things.

Could she really feel that way about _him_? He was such a temperamental punk and she was the most loved person he knew. Why would she even choose someone like him…?

"Stop doubting yourself Ichigo. The girl feels the same way about you so stop thinking otherwise. She's always been by your side, attending to you first before anyone else, always calling your name out. You should have realised it by now."

Ichigo looked up to see Zangetsu standing at the edge of the building, his voice of reason being interrupted by the watery voice of the white fiend.

**"Yeah, you need to get the princess to stop saying "_Kurosaki-kun_" all the time, it's getting on my nerves, I heard a whole lot of it in Hueco Mundo, Yeesh. And the old man has a point, she does always run to you first, but lately things have changed, I told you she doesn't look at us the way she used to before.**" The hollow snickered.

Ichigo just stared at both of them, what they were saying were true, and although he wouldn't put it as his hollow did, he would prefer if she called him by his first name. Though, these thoughts were sidelined as he glared at his Zanpakuto.

"Now's the time you make an appearance old man!" Ichigo shouted at him.

"I wanted you to figure it out on your own Ichigo"

"Well you could have saved me from that baka and his annoying riddles!"

The hollow stopped laughing at Ichigo and Zangetsu's confrontation and scowled heavily.

"**You fucking ungrateful piece of shit! If it wasn't for me, you'd still be moping all over the place and then maybe the princess would have ended up with the fucking Quincy, gah, it woulda taught you a lesson!**" the hollow finished with a maniacal grin, taunting Ichigo.

"Why you…" Ichigo gritted his teeth and removed his Zanpakuto off his back, his hollow mirroring his movements. A clash of steel was heard as the two fought for dominance.

Zangetsu watched as Ichigo showed his 'thanks', in his own way. This was their way of communicating, and knowing the hollow, after all that talking he had done, which was not in his nature, he must have been itching for a fight.

As he watched them fight, he looked to Ichigo and could see the change of the glint in his eyes. He knew things would change in Ichigo's inner world after this, depending on how Ichigo handled the situation in reality.

That girl meant a lot to Ichigo and he could see Ichigo meant a lot to her. That was one of the reasons their souls called out to each other. Their souls complemented each other, somewhat an equilibrium between two souls. They balanced each other out.

Her bubbly personality and kind heart made up for his moody and temperamental disposition. Where he would hold nothing but contempt for an enemy, she wouldn't let a wicked thought enter her mind. For every being he defeats in battle, she heals another. _They've_ protected her but she's _saved_ them, many times…

Zangetsu was glad that Ichigo may be able to find peace within his heart and soul in this lifetime, and he was sure the bright-haired girl would be the one to help him achieve it.

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**A/N:** Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **GuiltyIchihime, lyerlaboys1, insomniac1970, Damaio The End, indigo yamanaka, Frannie Bob184, sunflowerspot, Rina Suzume, Duvet, ichihimenaruhina shipper345, himeko63, HeavensHeroine, Abarai Arekushisu and magifury.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it!: **war90, shadowanime1, himelove22, Chewie Cookies, lyerlaboys1, Damaio The End, nypsy, sunflowerspot, foxfang27, Duvet and shintochick,**

Wow! I'm so glad you guys have stuck with me on this story, the reviews were amazing!

Sad to say though, the story is very close to ending… I don't want to drag it on any longer as I did say I had the story planned out from the beginning. Though I have another story that I've started working on, I know, shame on me when I'm supposed to be finishing this one! I have a couple of chapters typed out on that one so look out for it, I shall be posting it soon.

Well that's all from me, thanks again for reading and I really love reading your thoughts, not to mention how your reviews make me very happy! Lol

Tc,

Kyra


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Disclaimer: **I Don't Own Bleach**

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After Ichigo had beaten his hollow into submission, he had left his inner world, not before his hollow could retort a few biting words, warning Ichigo, that if '_kingy_' ever became weak, he would take over and there was no telling what he would do when he was out and about…

Ichigo had just gritted his teeth and promised him that it would never happen, shooting a getsuga at him to push his point across. His hollow was always warning him that he would destroy everything if he took over, if _he _became the _King_. Ichigo had even mentioned it to Inoue about his hollows impending destruction, when she asked him why he hated his hollow so much, while they ate last night.

Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that he would be talking about his fears of his hollow, especially with Inoue… And there would have been a time when he would have thought it impossible but now it felt right. She never judged him, not once especially when he spoke of his hollow, and she never looked at him with pity. It felt nice to know that he could at least share some of his burdens with someone and not feel bad about it…

Awake now and having his breakfast, while listening to Yuzu chatter away and Karin being indifferent as always, he thought of his plans for the day. Number one: He was going to talk to Inoue and tell her how he felt. After the conversation with his hollow and input from Zangetsu, he was sure she felt the same or at least she felt _something_ for him. He needed to get it off his chest before it ate away at him or before it was too late.

He got up to leave his bowl in the sink and made his way to the door.

"Karin, Yuzu, I'm off to school."

"Hai, we should be going too Karin-chan"

"Yeah, later Ichi-nii."

He nodded, grabbed his bag, and walked out. As he was about to shut the door, Yuzu came bounding up to him.

"Onii-chan! Please get these few ingredients on your way back from school. I need it for dinner tonight." Yuzu said hastily, holding out a list and some money out to him.

Ichigo frowned, "Oi, why didn't the old man get these things?"

"He said he would be busy, remember, he would be at the hospital today so he might come by a little late."

"Aa… Fine." He took the list and money from his little sister, scowling as he walked away.

"Bye onii-chan!"

"Bye." Ichigo replied, lifting a hand without turning around. He heard the door close and he carried on walking towards his destination, slightly irritated. This put a spanner in the works. He was planning on catching up with Inoue after school and possibly walking her home before she left for work, getting a chance to talk to her in the process. Now he'd have to wait. He was lucky he had a day off due to the test they were writing tomorrow. He wondered briefly if Inoue hadn't taken off as well.

As he entered the school, he heard Keigo's annoying voice so he placed his hand out to the side, waiting for the impact of his brown-haired friend to hit his hand. It never came. He turned to look at Keigo in surprise while said friend was grinning at him like an idiot.

"You thought I would fall for that again eh Ichigo! Well I'm a whole lot mature now! I'm a man! I don't cry or whine over everything and I definitely won't fall for your tricks again!" Keigo burst out enthusiastically.

Ichigo lifted a brow and looked at Mizuro who just shrugged his shoulders, clearly not interested as he went back to texting on his phone.

Ichigo turned back to watch as Keigo held his head up high, puffing out his chest and grinning even wider, walking past Ichigo as if he owned the place, continuing to sprout out nonsense.

"Just watch Ichigo, how all the woman will flock towards me at my new manly disposition and appearance. The girls will be swooning with stars in their eyes, even Orihime-chan will find it hard to resist my cha- aack!"

Ichigo simply stepped over Keigo's fallen form with a smirk on his face, "Yeah, I'm sure all the girls will find it hard to resist your 'chaaack'". Ichigo continued to walk past the group of giggling girls who had watched Keigo's face become acquainted with the floor.

Mizuro just smiled, recalling Ichigo's eye twitching and then putting his leg in front of Keigo, as he walked past him, when he had mentioned Orihime's name.

He then proceeded to step over Keigo's whining form, which was still on the ground. "Come on Asano-san, we're going to be late for class and you're destroying your 'manly manner' as we speak." To which, said boy whined even louder.

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It was lunch and Orihime was enjoying the bento she had packed for herself. Although, no one could actually tell that her thoughts were in turmoil. When she had arrived at school this morning, she was sure that things would be a lot different between Ichigo and her but she wasn't expecting this. It was almost as if their relationship had regressed to how it used to be before they left to Soul Society.

When she greeted him this morning, all he did was lift up a hand and say 'hey', looking at her with a contemplative frown and then turning away quickly. Throughout the day he hadn't talked to her, actually it was as if he was ignoring her. Even now, at lunch, he was sitting opposite her, but on the far end, turned away from her. He would talk to everyone else except her.

Orihime felt a heavy feeling settle on her heart and she bent her head to watch her bento. Maybe he regretted what happened yesterday, maybe he wished he hadn't opened up to her and he wished she didn't tell him about her experiences.

She didn't even recall doing anything wrong… Her eyes widened slightly, maybe he had felt her reiatsu brush up against his yesterday, maybe he was angry about that! But that couldn't be, he didn't look angry yesterday…

Oh well… There's nothing she could do about it, and she was sure, if it bothered him he would mention something to her. He wasn't the type to keep things hidden when something bothered him. Or maybe she should just ask him, yeah, that's what she'd do. After school would be her best opportunity.

She was rattled from her thoughts as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. She packed up her things and walked back to class with Tatsuki-chan, the boys falling behind them.

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Ichigo was tapping his foot irritably, waiting for the end of the school day. He was extremely impatient and if he had it his way, he would just grab Inoue and rush out of the class room.

He knew he was being a complete idiot. When he saw her this morning, for some odd reason he became aware of the way she reacted to him. The fact that she always greeted him first in the morning or how her eyes brightened when she looked at him. Just looking at her bright face this morning got him flustered and he had to turn away quickly before she saw his blush. Thank goodness no one else had been watching him.

The entire day he had to avoid talking to her for the fear of just blurting out what was in his mind. He noticed how she watched him throughout the day with those sad eyes. She probably thought he was ignoring her. Gah, that was far from it.

He just needed to talk to her and he didn't want an audience to even hear one word of what the topic would be. By the end of today, he hoped that he could get rid of that look on her face and maybe replace it with something better or, knowing his luck, it could turn out horribly and she may hate him… though he couldn't imagine her ever hating anybody…

He jumped when the bell went off, he hastily packed his things and vacated the class room before anyone could catch his attention.

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Orihime glanced up when she heard the bell go off, to watch Ichigo dump all his books in his bag and practically run out the classroom. She sighed heavily. She had noticed him tapping his foot the entire lesson and it seemed as if he was extremely agitated. Her idea of talking to him after school already went out the door, with his hastily retreating form.

She wondered, if he behaved this way after the emotional session yesterday, what would he have done if she confessed to him, leave the country? She chuckled nervously and put her things in her bag, slowly getting off her chair.

"Yeesh, what the hell is wrong with him?"

"Eh, Tatsuki-chan?"

"He's been acting strange the entire day. I swear it would seem as if the devil himself were after Ichigo."

"Heh heh, I highly doubt that, Kurosaki-kun can be scary himself you know." Orihime tried lightly.

"Yeah…" Tatsuki replied thoughtfully while looking at her auburn-haired best friend. "You okay Orihime? You seem a little down today…"

"Oh no Tatsuki-chan! I'm great! Just sad I won't be going to the bakery today…" Orihime bluffed.

"You should be happy baka! Everyone wants a day off work!" Tatsuki yelled as she pulled Orihime out of the class. But then added thoughtfully as they walked, "But then again, having a day off to _study_ kinda defeats the purpose…"

Orihime laughed, "Hai! But I'm going to miss the chocolate brownies, and the chocolate truffles, and the macaroons, and the red bean-"

Tatsuki stopped her, patting her head, as she watched Orihime's eyes glaze over and drool start to form on one side of her mouth.

"Okay I get it!" She laughed. "I'm off to practice, you gonna be okay walking home by yourself?"

"Aw Tatsuki-chan, I'm a big girl now, I can take care of myself." Orihime said with a childish pout.

"Yeah, very mature Orihime." Tatsuki chuckled. "Okay I'm off, I'll call you later."

"Okay, bye Tatsuki-chan!"

Orihime waited until Tatsuki turned the corner, then she turned and made her way out the school gates. She gasped out aloud at the figure leaning against the wall. "Kurosaki-kun! What are you still doing here?"

She watched as he pushed himself off the wall and strode towards her, a heavy scowl on his face.

"I should be asking you that. The bell sounded ages ago. Aren't you supposed to be going to work?" he said roughly.

Orihime felt a little disarmed at his attitude, swearing that she must have done something wrong for him to react like that. "I don't have work today, Kamiya-san gave me the day off… I was talking to Tatsuki-chan now… Kurosaki-kun, is something wrong…" She asked tentatively after explaining.

His demeanor seemed to change after her question. The apprehension left her chest though she still felt nervous at his answer.

"Nothing's wrong Inoue… I just wanted to talk to you. Is it okay if I come around your apartment in a while? I also got the day off… I need to run to the convenience store and head back home. If that's okay with you?"

She agreed instantly, "Hai, its okay…" although she smiled, she was scared inside.

"Okay, well are you okay to go home on your own?" he asked her with a serious look on his face.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. I'll see you later Kurosaki-kun." She replied and walked passed him towards her destination.

"Oi Inoue, send me a text to let me know you got home okay?"

"Okay" she smiled and continued walking, feeling as if his eyes were watching her all the while.

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Orihime was still worried, what exactly did he want to talk about? Was he going to say that he never wanted to talk to her again, that maybe they shouldn't even be friends, that maybe it was best if they kept away from each other?

All these thoughts ran through her head and made her worry ten times over. She wrung her hands together as she sat on her sofa, waiting for him. She had tried to open her books and get in some studying before he arrived but she was finding it hard to concentrate.

Though she didn't think he was extremely angry at her due to the way he was after school. He had even told her to send him a message to tell him she got home, which she did, but he didn't reply…

Orihime was stressing so much over the impending conversation that she almost did not feel the overwhelming spiritual pressure bore down on her, _almost_…

She widened her eyes and gasped. The reiatsu was heavy and very close by and it was way more than one. When she extended her senses, she realised there were more heavy spiritual pressures around Karakura Town, but the one closest seemed strongest. She grabbed her coat and exited her home to investigate.

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Ichigo made his way home and handed the groceries to his over enthusiastic sister. While he was at the store, he had received Inoue's text message, though he didn't reply, it would take up time. He ran up to his room to dump his bag, he wasn't going to bother changing, so he made his way out the room and he was almost out when he felt a very strong reiatsu close by, followed by other reiatsu popping out all around town. Even though he wasn't great at sensing reiatsu, he felt this. It was almost as if it was pushed forth so it could be felt.

He grabbed his badge and slammed it to his chest, his body falling on the bed heavily. He could feel his dad rushing over to the house so he knew his sisters would be safe. He was almost out the window when Karin burst in his room.

"Ichi-nii! What was that!"

He looked at her and felt a heavy sense of déjà-vu. This time he was looking at a slightly older and more mature Karin, with strong features, taller and her hair tied back.

"Karin, I have to go, this reiatsu… It's strong…" he turned but couldn't move as yet.

"Stay safe Ichi-nii…"

"Hai, I need you to stay here and watch over Yuzu, please…"

"Hai"

He looked at the determination and understanding in her eyes and nodded his head, flash stepping away.

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He arrived at the scene, the battle commenced already. Ironically, this was the same spot Ulquiorra and Yammy first made their appearance.

There were five arrancar, five! They were surrounding Chad and Ishida as they tried to fight them off. However, only four of the arrancar were putting up a fight while the other one stood aside and watched. All looked like they were in their released form except the one standing aside

There was a loud roar and it looked as if a spear went hurtling towards Ishida, only to be stopped by a bright triangular shield. The spear hit, though the attack was repelled back to the owner of the attack, making him scream out.

Ichigo scowled as he saw Orihime enter the battle field. He shunpoed in front of her, gripped her by the waist, ignoring her squeak and took off to the building, slightly far off from the battle scene.

He placed her on her feet and before she could say another word, he spoke, "I know you want to fight, and I know you can, but there's five of them and four of us, for now. I need you to wait here. When it's over you're gonna need your strength to heal us, got it?" he said calmly, hoping that would make her see reason.

"But…"

"Please Inoue…"

"Hai…"

Ichigo nodded and shunpoed away in the next instant, trying to ignore the resigned look on her face. He was glad she agreed with him, he knew she could hold her own and her resolve was stronger than before as well as her power, but they were against five arrancar at the same time. He didn't want her anywhere near the battle field. He didn't want to take any chances. He just hoped the arrancar didn't notice him taking her away.

What the hell were they doing here anyway! They just dealt with one a while back. He was sick of this shit. He immediately sent a getsuga at the offending arrancar trying to best Chad, causing the creature to fly into a tree.

Ichigo landed on the ground, back to back against Ishida and Chad.

"Nice timing Kurosaki"

"Not now Ishida" Ichigo grit his teeth. "Did they say what they want this time?"

"No, as usual, attack first, though I'm sure we're going to get a boring long explanation from that abomination that hasn't entered the fight. Looks like he's the leader of this group." Ishida replied to which Chad grunted.

"Fine, I don't care, once he starts talking we just kick the shit out of him."

"Seconded" came Chad's reply.

"Agreed" followed Ishida's.

At this point the four arrancar had surrounded them, getting ready for an attack. At once, all four attacked, not relenting or even allowing them to fight one on one. The three nakama were only allowed to defend and watch each other's backs.

Ichigo was beginning to get highly irritated and wanted to end this fight now. He was just about to call out his Bankai when he noticed Ishida managing to move away from the group, drawing the attention of one of the arrancar. Another followed his comrade, after Ishida.

Ichigo frowned heavily, they were outnumbered. It's not like they hadn't been in this position before but these arrancar had no tact, they weren't bothering to fight one on one. They knew they had the upper hand and they were taking it. Ichigo was worried about his friends and if they were able to handle this.

"Ichigo!"

He just managed to dodge the attack that was aimed for him at Chad's yell. He stood facing the bastard that attacked him, not leaving his grinning face, "Thanks Chado, lets finish this and get to Ishida."

Chad grunted and nodded his head, his Brazo Izquierdo del Diablo forming over his left hand.

"BANKAI!"

Once the smoke was cleared from Ichigo's second release, they all looked skyward at the laughter that echoed around them. Ichigo narrowed his eyes and glared at the one that was the supposed 'leader'.

"Well finally we can get this show on the road, this is what I need to test this thing out!"

Ichigo watched as the 'leader' pulled out his sword and called out his resurrection. Once he was done transforming, he didn't look that much different from his former appearance. Although his body was now covered in what looked like a white bodysuit, almost up to his neck. His pitch black hair was grown way past his shoulder blades, almost all the way down his back. His mask adorned his forehead and his sword now took the shape of a trident with the spokes a lot longer than ordinary. What made Ichigo a little bit uneasy was the strange familiarity of the 'clothing that now covered his body, and especially the green glowing crystal he now sported at the center of his chest.

"Look familiar eh shinigami?" the leader laughed. "Oi, you four handle the other two, I'll deal with the shinigami, and then take care of the woman."

At the mention of Orihime, Ichigo burst forward, not waiting for any other explanation, attacking the leader with raw power.

He was vaguely aware of Ishida and Chad's fights around him, but he could hear they weren't fairing well, being two against one.

Ichigo believed in his friends, he couldn't doubt them. He needed to take care of this bastard and then he would help them and he would make sure NO ONE got near Inoue.

He gritted his teeth at the strength the arrancar was showing. The fiend matched him at every swing he laid upon him. Ichigo was getting tired and annoyed. There was no way a fucking arrancar could best him and he definitely didn't think he needed to pull out his mask even though his hollow was scratching at the surface of his mind, especially at the mention of Inoue.

Ichigo quickly turned to the side as he heard Chad yell and fall hard to the ground. He was bleeding heavily but so were the arrancar he was facing. It seemed as if one of them had caught him by surprise.

Ishida, to his left, wasn't fairing so well either. He had cuts all over his face and his right arm was dripping with blood.

Ichigo looked back to Chad and watched as he struggled to get back up. He wanted to rush down and help him out but a glint from the corner of his eye made him shunpo away, watching as three spokes went sailing past him, into a huge tree, the tree breaking off in three places, falling apart.

"Your fight is with me shinigami"

Ichigo just grunted and watched as three new spokes formed on the tip of the trident he held, once it was complete, he entered the fight again.

Ichigo tried connecting but the arrancar was matching his speed, if not slightly faster. He shunpoed away and gathered his reiatsu, "GETSUGA TENSHO!"

The attack hit him head on, though Ichigo stared as he watched the arrancar dust himself off, a few bruises adorning him.

He had felt it, just as his attack was to connect, the arrancar had formed his own cero, just like what Grimmjow had done.

Ichigo was tired off this. How the hell was that arrancar able to keep up with him! The bastard wasn't even an Espada and Ichigo was way stronger than what he was when he faced Grimmjow for the first time. He grunted and pulled on his mask, it was time to finish this.

"_**King, stop slacking off, just let me take over damnit!"**_

He ignored his hollows comments and flew at the arrancar with a high burst of speed, continuing to slash at him but the arrancar would not relent, he even managed to injure him with a cero.

Ichigo was also now sporting bruises and cuts on his body. What the fuck was going on! It seemed as if this arrancar had a reserve of energy and power. And where the fuck was Urahara-san and Yourichi-san! There was high reiatsu all over town, he knew there were battles taking place at these locations. Maybe they were involved in battle…

Ichigo shook his head, he couldn't rely on anyone else. His friends were getting pulverized! He needed to get to them as well! He tried regaining his breath, while shuddering at the amount of reiatsu that was flowing from his opponent. Even though his opponent was sporting his fair share of bruises and cuts, he didn't seem as out of breath as Ichigo did. Something didn't feel right, and his thoughts were proved when the arrancar's injuries began to heal rapidly.

Ichigo moved his gaze down to the glowing crystal in his chest, narrowing his eyes. It couldn't be… There's no way it could even be possible…

"If I were to follow your train of thought, I'd have to confirm with you. This is the Hougyoku." The arrancar mentioned at Ichigo's glare.

Ichigo's eyes widened and it seemed as if the fighting around him stopped.

"That can't be true! It no longer exists!" He bellowed.

"Okay, let me rephrase that, it isn't the true Hougyoku, this is something that was created by the 8th Espada. He seemed to think that he could better the power that Aizen and that shinigami created, so this is what he came up with. Slightly different but similar none the less, most likely even better and with less flaws than the original. It was still in its testing stages and I offered to be the guinea pig. Though due to his untimely demise, I don't think it was complete, but, it is still powerful and with this power I will destroy all the shinigami and whoever tries to stand in my way!"

"_**Just fucking let me out! I'll rip him apart!**_"

Ichigo gripped the side of his head and shoved his hollow back, "_You're not getting out! I want to defeat him, and not destroy the whole world in the process!_"

He couldn't believe what he was hearing from this arrancar. That fucking scientist, he still wasn't over the things he had done to Inoue, but now that bastard had to go and create _this_! Fuck! It had taken a lot out of him to extract the Hougyoku from Aizen the first time. The only reason he believed he could defeat this guy was because he wasn't as proficient as Aizen and it didn't seem he had much experience seeing as Ichigo had laid a few blows on him. Ichigo couldn't tell how dangerous, what he knew now to be an orb, was exactly. There's no telling how far that Espada had gotten with the experiment.

Ichigo gripped his sword tighter, there was no time to talk. He had to take care of this now. His friends and family needed and depended on him. He was not weak! He could definitely defeat this guy! He raced at him, attacking with all the power and precision he had.

The leader laughed, but stopped when he realised that the boy in front of him wasn't fighting out of anger or desperation, but out of courage and faith. A deadly combination. So he fought back just as well, he was too close to his goal, he wasn't giving up yet.

Ichigo on the other hand wasn't giving up either, he went crashing into a group of trees, branches puncturing him all over his body. His clothing was ripped along his torso and part of his sleeves and hakama as well, blood staining them. He ripped off the almost destroyed top half off his clothing and got back up, entering the fight again.

He was about to land an attack when a strangled sound caught his attention. He turned to see Ishida fall to the ground, a deep wound on his stomach area. He looked around to see that there were only two of the arrancar left, each of his friends defeating one of their opponents. He saw Chad kneeling on both knees, leaning on a boulder heavily and as he turned back to Ishida, he watched as the proud Quincy tried getting up again but failing terribly as the arrancar before his friend, taunted him.

He knew that if he didn't help him now, that arrancar would cut him down. His fight with their damn leader could wait. Ichigo turned and shunpoed towards the other arrancar, ready to strike, but he stopped in mid air, finding it hard to breathe. He fell to the ground, on his knees, eyes wide as he looked down at his chest.

Three, extremely sharp, spokes were protruding from his sternum, flesh and blood on the edges of them. He gasped as the pain wracked through his upper body. He couldn't even get a word out. He could vaguely hear Ishida calling out his name.

He reached behind him and attempted to pull the offending objects from his body. The first one had him screaming in agony. Each spoke had tiny spikes attached to them, the center one was longer and thicker, it literally gutted him as he took them out. He looked up to see the leader look down at him from his stance a few feet away, laughing triumphantly.

Ichigo gritted his teeth and continued to take the rest out. Once he was done, he keeled over and watched the blood flow from his wounds, pooling around him. He could feel himself hold onto consciousness as his body screamed out to shut down. What instantly pulled him back from impending darkness was soft warmth all over his body, a glowing light around him, and an angel's voice.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo looked up with widened eyes and watched as she ran towards him, hands on the dome when she reached his side, tears streaking her face.

He groaned in annoyance, "I-Inoue... I told you…t-to stay away…" he managed with what little strength he had.

"You're hurt and I'm going to take care of you, okay" she replied through her sobbing.

"Oi Onna, I can't allow you to save him" with that, the leader shot out a cero towards Orihime.

Ichigo gasped and yelled with a strangled cry, "Move Inoue!"

He watched as her shield formed in front of her, the attack being repelled, shooting out a heavy dose of energy at the arrancar.

All Ichigo could do was sit and watch as the scene played out in front of him.

Orihime sent out Tsubaki, cutting the leaders hand off cleanly.

"You bitch!" He yelled in pain. He gritted his teeth and waited for his arm to regenerate.

Orihime on the other hand gasped slightly. This was the first time she had done something like this and it was unsettling. She felt her confidence waiver.

"Baka onna! This is not the time to doubt yourself or be afraid. You have to fight or your friends will die! _He_ will die!"

Orihime looked at Tsubaki's angry eyes and heard his true words. If she didn't pull herself together, she wouldn't be able to protect her friends. She wasn't that girl anymore, crying and being useless. She left those fears back in Hueco Mundo. She was stronger now because she knew her friends had faith in her, just as she had faith in them.

She took a defensive stance, a determined expression adorning her face, waiting for his next move. She knew she should be attacking but she had to face three opponents now. She could sense the other two arrancar move slowly on both sides. She had watched everything from atop the building Kurosaki-kun had placed her on and she knew that they were losing. The power she felt radiating from the arrancar that had been fighting Kurosaki-kun was strangely familiar yet different.

She knew her orange-haired savior had asked her to stay back, and she had agreed because he was right in a sense. At least she would be able to heal them if she wasn't in any danger, but when she saw Ishida-kun and Sado-kun being hurt so drastically, she took off running. There was no way she was going to stand by and watch her friends get hurt. If she couldn't defeat the enemy, the least she could do was buy her friends some time.

She had cried out in vain as she made her way towards her friends, watching as Kurosaki-kun was impaled by his opponent's weapon. She formed her dome over his kneeling body once he had removed the protruding spokes from his chest, thinking how eerily familiar this all looked. Only this time she didn't stop or fall into despair, she stood and fought.

There was no time to whimper and cry or wonder what to do. It was time to protect her friends.

With a determined look on her face, she called forth her shield to repel the attack that came from the arrancar to her left, shooting Tsubaki out at him, cutting off his leg.

Orihime's will and resolve was strong and unrelenting. Although she didn't have killing intent in her attacks, she wanted to subdue her opponents so they wouldn't attack her friends, and hopefully help would arrive soon.

She turned to see another attack come from her right and managed to dodge in time, rolling on the ground and getting back up. Her training with the vizards was paying off and it was her luck, the arrancar were underestimating her.

Her shield repelled the second arrancar and the attack hit his face. She turned just in time to pull up her shield again as the leader's trident came crashing down on it, sending an attack back at him, though it didn't faze him. She could see the pure anger across his face.

She held strong behind the shield as he continued to slash at it. Every strike seemed to get stronger and the attacks that were being sent back to him, although were cutting through his hierro, were being regenerated.

She began to sweat and almost lost focus when she felt a presence behind her as one of the other arrancar approached to attack her. He was shoved away by Sado-kun's bulky body. She knew it took a lot for him to move and help her out. She looked to the side and watched as Ishida used what strength he had left to take care of the remaining arrancar with the missing limb.

Orihime had to actually kneel to strengthen the shield, she was having a hard time. She knew that facing a true opponent would be way harder than the vizards. At least she could say she gave it her all.

She gasped when she heard a small crack and in the next instant her shield gave, crashing before her eyes.

"Inoue! No! Fuck!" Ichigo yelled, trying desperately to get out of her dome, but with his weakened state and her strengthened powers, he wasn't getting anywhere. The holes on his chest were closing slowly though the one at the center was larger than the other two, thus closing at a slower rate.

He watched in horror as the offending arrancar backhanded Inoue, her body flying a small distance away. This was not happening, not again… he screamed out for her to drop the dome over him but she got back up on shaky legs, looked at him with a sad smile and then focused her attention on the approaching arrancar once again. Blood dripped down the side of her face but she still held a determined look as she sent Tsubaki at the enemy. He dodged and struck out at her, she raised her shield. He shattered it due to her diminishing reiatsu, allowing her to fall on her knees.

The leader grinned at her kneeling form and gripped her by the neck, lifting her high, her feet dangling in the air. He was squeezing the life out of her and Ichigo could see her eyes become bloodshot at the lack of oxygen.

Ichigo was finding it hard to breathe. On his hands and knees, he lifted his head to look at the scene that was killing him. He needed to get to her… He needed to protect her… The wound at the center of his chest was throbbing, more like pulsing. Power was rushing through his blood, waiting to explode. His body was tingling and his consciousness was wavering. The obscurity in his mind yelled out at him, it was consuming him…and in the next instant…all he saw was darkness…

.

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Orihime tried her best to fight the offending arrancar off her but it was of no use, he was just too strong. She could feel the life leaving her body, thinking to herself how she was finally able to protect Kurosaki-kun and her nakama. She was content with that.

Her arms, which were holding onto the hand at her throat, began to slacken. Her body became weak and it felt as if her eyes were going to explode in her head. She prayed, above all else, that once she was gone, that all her friends would be safe and they would not be defeated.

When she took, what she thought was her last breath, she faintly heard a loud distressed cry ring out and almost instantly the grip on her neck was weakened and she fell to the ground. As oxygen rapidly filled her lungs, she pulled at the hand that was still attached to her neck, only to find it now severed. She flung it away from herself, gasping and coughing hard, almost keeling over, amazed that she was brought back, tears running down her cheeks as she took in deep breaths. Her eyes stung and her throat hurt.

She looked up and what she saw almost terrified her. Looking down on her was a figure she thought she saw the last off back on the dome of Las Noches…

Her beloved Kurosaki-kun stood before her, looking down at her, pure white with black markings trailing away from a large hole at the center of his chest. The top half of his clothing was nonexistent and his hakama were frayed, hanging low on his hips. His fiery orange hair flowing behind him like a mane, his mask, a picture of perfection upon his face with the horns protruding, almost touching each other but slightly pointing outwards at the end and Tensa Zangetsu held firmly in his right hand, a murderous aura emanating from him…

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**A/N: **Thanks to all those who added this to their favourite and story alerts!: **radiosilence, Diabolical Angel, quietreaper, FlowerPearl, Jacxufre and jenrward.**

A special thanks to all those who took the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it!: **nypsy, Chewie Cookies, Ichihime Supporter, shadowanime1,** **quietreaper, Gypsygrl86 and foxfang27.**

I'm never a fan off writing fight scenes so I kept it brief as possible… I hope everything makes sense. Well the battle was more of a catalyst than anything else.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and please don't hesitate to tell me how you felt.

Next chapter, I have a nice surprise for Hollow Ichigo fans :D

I've also uploaded the first chapter of my other story, A Hollow Life. Please let me know your thoughts on it.

Thanks for reading!

Tc

Kyra


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